county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
located on the west central border of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,123. Its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
is Carrollton, located in the center of the county. It is a prohibition, or
dry county
In the United States, a dry county is a county whose local government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. The vast majority of counties n ...
, although the communities of Carrollton and Aliceville voted to become wet in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Pickens County is included in the Tuscaloosa, Alabama metropolitan area
History
Like the rest of Alabama, this had long been occupied by Native Americans; historically the
Muscogee people
The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek or just Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language; English: ), are a group of related Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlandsrevolutionary war hero General Andrew Pickens of
South Carolina
South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...
. The county seat was relocated from Pickensville to Carrollton in 1830.
Less than one-third of the county was developed for cotton plantations, which were worked by enslaved African-Americans brought south by northern businessmen interested in cheap cotton. These plantations were developed primarily in the southernmost reaches of the county, in the lowlands along the banks of the Tombigbee River and stretching over a small prairie-like area. The rest of the county was settled by yeomen farmers who held few slaves; it was topographically unsuited for plantation-scale farming operations.
During the American Civil War, the first courthouse in Carrollton was burned on April 5, 1865, by troops of Union General John T. Croxton. Recovering from that and other damage was part of the postwar work for the county.
A second courthouse was built in Carrollton. It was destroyed by fire on November 16, 1876, during the last months of the Reconstruction era. Though arson was suspected, no arrest was made until January 1878, after white Democrats had regained control of the state legislature and the county sheriff's office. White racial hostility toward African Americans in the county, and their efforts to retain dominance, resulted in numerous lynchings.
According to the third edition of ''Lynching in America'', a study of lynchings of African Americans in the United States, the county had 14 documented lynchings of African Americans in Pickens County from 1877 to 1917; this is the fifth-highest total in the state."Supplement: Lynchings by County/ Alabama: Pickens", 3rd edition , from ''Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror'', 2015, Equal Justice Institute, Montgomery, Alabama This was the period of
Jim Crow
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...
and disenfranchisement of blacks throughout Alabama and the South.
Henry Wells, an
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, was arrested in January 1878 as a suspect in the courthouse arson and a burglary. He was captured in an arrest for the burglary, in which he was shot and wounded. Reportedly confessing to the courthouse arson (likely under coercion), he died five days later of his wounds. A myth associated his death with another lynching of an African-American man in this period, and an image, purportedly of Wells' face in a courthouse window. But while numerous African Americans were lynched in the courthouse square, the windows in the courthouse were not installed until February and March 1878.
In the late 19th century, there was strong hostility in Pickens County among yeomen whites against freedmen, and they committed numerous lynchings into the early 20th century. The county was a populist stronghold in the 1890s and many voters had joined the Farmers Alliance. Agricultural commissioner and populist choice Reuben F. Kolb was defeated in 1890 for the Democratic nomination for governor by Thomas G. Jones, chosen by delegates who joined to defeat Kolb.Paul McWhorter Pruitt Jr., Governors: "Thomas Goode Jones (1890-94)" ''Encyclopedia of Alabama'', February 13, 2008/updated August 22, 2017; accessed April 17, 2018 In 1892 both ran again, Kolb representing Jeffersonian Democrats, and Kolb the main Democratic Party. Kolb won in Pickens County by "an immense majority". Governor Jones was re-elected, in part because of his reliance on a platform of
white supremacy
White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
, to appeal to whites alarmed by Kolb's promising to protect African-American rights. But Jones supported reform, opposing the
convict lease
Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor in the United States, penal labor that was practiced historically in the Southern United States before it was formally Convict leasing#End of the system, abolished during the 20th century. Un ...
system that trapped so many African Americans in near-slavery conditions.
Electoral unrest and populist furor in the county may have contributed to six lynchings in Carrollton in the fall of 1893. On September 14, 1893, African-American suspects Paul Archer, Will Archer, Emma Fair, Ed Guyton, and Paul Hill, were each shot to death in a mass lynching by a white mob at the courthouse jail. They had been arrested when accused of burning a mill and cotton gin owned by a white man. Their lynchings followed that of Joe Floyd, another African-American worker, two weeks before."A Horrible Butchery" ''Vernon Courier'' (Lamar County, Alabama), September 21, 1893; posted in Genealogy Trails; accessed April 15, 2018
On August 28, 1907, African-American John Gibson was lynched in Carrollton, hanged to death in the courthouse square. John Lipsep was hanged and shot in early September 1907, a suspect in an attack on a white woman.
20th century to present
From 1940 to 1970, many African Americans left Pickens County to escape racial violence and oppression in the Great Migration to urban areas, as did other rural residents, because of lack of economic opportunity.
On April 8, 1998, a supercell thunderstorm produced an F3 tornado in Pickens County. This windstorm injured two people and damaged five homes including mobile homes. It rotated from Holman to north of Northport. Twenty-four homes and thirteen mobile homes were also in the path of destruction. Moments later, that same supercell thunderstorm produced an F5 tornado that struck northeastern Tuscaloosa near the Black Warrior River before entering western Jefferson County where it destroyed Oak Grove High School and killed thirty-two people in its path.
From 2000 to 2013 the county was again losing population. From July 2013 to July 2014, the population grew by 5.1%, making it the fourth-fastest growing county with at least 10,000 inhabitants. In 2014 it became the fastest-growing county in Alabama. But part of the growth was the result of the construction here of the Federal Correctional Institution, Aliceville federal women's prison. Prisoners are included in local census numbers, as are prison employees, some of whom came from other counties.Kirby, Brendan "How a prison made rural Alabama area one of America's fastest-growing counties , . Al.com. March 26, 2015. Updated April 30, 2015. Retrieved on December 30, 2015.
In 2016, Black disabled veteran Sean Worsley was arrested in Pickens County for possession of prescription medical marijuana by Police Officer Carl Abramo of the Gordo Police Department. Worsley was arrested after stopping at a gas station when Abramo allegedly heard loud music and "observed a black male get out of the passenger side vehicle". In 2020, Mr. Worsley was extradited from his home state in Arizona to Pickens County, where he was sentenced by a judge to 60 months in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections.
In 2019, Sheriff David Abston resigned as part of a plea deal with federal officials. He pleaded guilty to scamming a local food bank and his own church for food to feed county prisoners. He then was able to pocket the savings. Abston had served in the office for more than thirty years.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.0%) is water.
The county is between Tuscaloosa County and the Alabama-Mississippi state line.
Noxubee County, Mississippi
Noxubee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, its population was 10,285. Its county seat is Macon. The name is derived from the Choctaw word ''nakshobi'' meaning "to stink".
Geography
According t ...
(southwest)
*
Lowndes County, Mississippi
Lowndes County is a county on the eastern border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 58,879. Its county seat is Columbus. The county is named for U.S. Congressman William Jones Lowndes.
...
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 20,949 people, 8,086 households, and 5,789 families residing in the county. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 9,520 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 55.95%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 42.96%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.22% from other races, and 0.63% from two or more races. About 0.70% of the population were
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino.
There were 8,086 households, out of which 32.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.80% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 18.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.40% were non-families. Nearly 26.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56, and the average family size was 3.11.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.30% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 25.80% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 15.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.30 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $26,254, and the median income for a family was $32,938. Males had a median income of $28,843 versus $20,569 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the county was $13,746. About 20.10% of families and 24.90% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 34.30% of those under age 18 and 22.30% of those age 65 or over.
Politics
Pickens County is a Republican leaning county. The last Democrat to win the county was
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
Reform
Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...
Macedonia
Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to:
* North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia
* Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity
* Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...
Coal Fire
A coal-seam fire is a burning of an outcrop or underground coal seam
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to gen ...
Liberty
Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
*
Zion
Zion (; ) is a placename in the Tanakh, often used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole.
The name is found in 2 Samuel (), one of the books of the Tanakh dated to approximately the mid-6th century BCE. It o ...