.
.
.
.
Both these maps show the same segment of the southern United States, and demonstrate a similar pattern. Yet each describes a wholly other era and a completely different process.
The bottom map dates from 1860 (i.e. the eve of the Civil War), and indicates where cotton was produced at that time, each dot representing 2,000 bales of the stuff. Cotton was King back then, and mainly so in the densely cultivated border area between Louisiana and Mississippi, and in an equally dense band of cotton cultivation starting west of the Mississippi-Alabama line, tapering out across Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Other cotton centres are the areas around Memphis and what appears to be Lawrenceburg in southern Tennessee.
The top map dates from 2008, and shows the results of the recent presidential election, on county level. Blue counties voted for Obama, red ones for McCain (darker hues representing larger majorities). In spite of Obama’s national victory, and barring Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, all Southern states (i.e. all states formerly belonging to the Confederacy) went for McCain. The pattern of pro-Obama counties in those southern states corresponds strikingly with the cotton-picking areas of the 1860s, especially along the Louisiana-Mississippi and Mississippi-Alabama borders (the pattern corresponds less strikingly and deviates significantly elsewhere).
The link between these two maps is not causal, but correlational, and the correlation is African-Americans. Once they were the slaves on whom the cotton economy had to rely for harvesting. Despite an outward migration towards the Northern cities, their settlement pattern now still closely corresponds to that of those days.
During the Democratic primary, many African-American voters supported Hillary Clinton, thinking it unlikely Barack Obama would win the nomination, let alone the presidency. When it became apparent that Obama had a good shot at the nomination (and thereafter at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue itself), their support for Obama became near monolithic. As it turns out, president-elect Obama won with the an overall support of 53%, but that includes over 90% of black voters (1).
And while their votes did not swing their states towards ‘their’ (2) candidate, the measure in which black residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina voted for Obama is remarkable in that this particular voting pattern still corresponds with settlement patterns of almost a century and a half ago.
.
Many thanks to Paul Downey for sending in this map, found here.
.
UPDATE #1: I received an overlay of both maps from Mark Root-Wiley: “The borders do not line up perfectly but came closer than I thought they would. The top layer had to be made semitransparent in order to see the blue vs. red breakdown in Arkansas/Lousiana/Mississippi, but I think it’s pretty useful. The correlation was even stronger than I thought.” It looks great. Thanks, Mark!
.
UPDATE #2: The original juxtaposition of the two maps was the work of Allen Gathman (explained here, and done here).
.
UPDATE #3: In comment #96, C. Neal explains how the voting pattern can be related to even more antique antecedents than Antebellum agriculture – the Late Cretaceous Period, no less. Go to the comment for link to the post…
(1) Of white voters, only 43% voted for Obama; since Lyndon B. Johnson, no Democratic candidate for the highest office has ever garnered more than half the votes of European-Americans.
(2) Obama self-identifies as black, but with a white mother and a Kenyan father, shares no personal, historical bond with the issue of black slavery in the US.
Very interesting maps.
Excellent correlation!!!!!
Comment by Santaum — November 15, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
What happened to that hotspot of cotton production in middle Tennessee? It voted solidly for McCain.
I asked around, and learned that KKK headquarters are in that region. I have no idea what effect that would have. Comments?
Comment by goateebird — November 15, 2008 @ 3:39 pm
It’s worth noting that in the past decade or so African-Americans have voted in near-monolithic numbers for Democractic presidential candidates generally, not just black candidates. Kerry and Gore’s map of the south would have looked similar.
Comment by jfruh — November 15, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
I wonder what other historical correlations could be found – Religion is probably the most obvious one: http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/geo/courses/geo200/religion.html
Comment by Jason — November 15, 2008 @ 4:37 pm
Very interesting. The maps as shown don’t quite prove the point, though. Do you have a map of total population density for the region? I wonder how much it diverges from the African-American population density. Maybe it’s just that cotton production corresponds to high population density; and we know that around the country, cities tend to vote Democratic regardless of their racial mix.
Also, “no personal … bond” is perhaps a bit strong. He may not be descended from slaves, but his wife and daughters are. That’s pretty personal.
Comment by SG — November 15, 2008 @ 4:42 pm
This is a bit skewed. All this shows is that people tend to congregate around water sources. What does cotton need? Lots of water. Where do Conservatives tend to live? Far from anyone else.
Comment by BigD145 — November 15, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
While this is about the Deep South and the Coastal Plain where cotton was grown, I wrote about the Upland South, which had an interesting opposite reaction in this election:
http://specialtopicscafe.blogspot.com/2008/11/upland-south-and-election.html
Regarding the white vote, I believe that outside excluding the South, Obama won it.
Comment by TS — November 15, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
What the Obama counties in the south correspond directly to isn’t population density or water–it’s race. Here’s a map showing the African American population density, which is, obviously, similar to the density of slave populations in 1860. The two main cotton-growing areas were the Mississippi delta–that bulge in western Mississippi–and the “black belt”–the arc across the lower part of Alabama, where there was rich soil, in contrast to the poor “red dirt” prevalent in much of the rest of the south. The other concentration of slavery were in South Carolina (rice) and eastern Virginia/northeastern North Carolina (tobacco).
Comment by Ben — November 15, 2008 @ 6:00 pm
[...] Two maps, separated by 150 years show the same unmistakeable pattern. One map shows where cotton was produced in 1860. The other map shows the same states and indicates which counties Obama won there in 2008. The two maps are virtually identical. [...]
Pingback by “…Old Times There Are Not Forgotten…” | E Pluribus Unum — November 15, 2008 @ 6:24 pm
@goateebird: that red spot is Warren County, Mississippi.
English Wikipedia says that “The racial makeup of the county was 54.97% White, 43.19% Black or African American [...]
2005 census estimates based on the American Community Survey suggested that non-Hispanic whites were 51.5% of Warren County’s population. This meant that Warren County was the only county in Mississippi along the Mississippi River besides Deseoto County where whites formed a majority of the population.”
Deseoto County is on the north-western corner of Mississippi, another red spot (with the neighbouring Tate County in the south) among blue counties where cotton production was very high.
Comment by Lopo — November 15, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
The Census Bureau has maps of population (http://www.census.gov/popest/gallery/maps/County-Population-07.html) and population density (http://www.census.gov/popest/gallery/maps/County-Population-07.html) for U.S. counties. There is no strong positive correlation between population density and cotton production. In fact, the Mississippi Delta and Alabama’s Black Belt are still rural agricultural areas.
What do the asterisks on the cotton map represent? It is interesting that the northern part of the Delta did not produce much cotton, though it is (now) mostly African-American and voted strongly for Obama. Does anyone know whether there were few slaves in the area, and the demographics are a result of migration after the Civil War, or there was a different crop grown in the area in 1860?
Comment by Stephen — November 15, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
[...] Fencing duel at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, ca. 1970. (uwdigitalcollections via Flickr cc) A really intriguing map from Strange Maps showing the correlation between cotton picking areas in 1860 and areas that voted for Barack Obama. Here [...]
Pingback by Some history links 15 November 2008 « Uncovered History — November 15, 2008 @ 6:53 pm
[...] Katoen plukken of president kiezen, wat is het verschil?15-11-2008 om 20:00 door Geoff Katoen plukken of president kiezen, wat is het verschil? Barack Obama, Kaart, presidentsverkiezingen 2008, Waan v/d Dag Terug naar het [...]
Pingback by Katoen plukken of president kiezen, wat is het verschil? - Sargasso — November 15, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
Wow! That is fascinating! I never had really thought about this correlation…
Comment by Tishia C — November 15, 2008 @ 8:04 pm
[...] production areas in 1860 and areas that favored Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential elections. Check out the maps yourself. Keep in mind though that correlation does not prove causality, but they are highly [...]
Pingback by Picking Cotton and Picking Presidents « Intentialicious — November 15, 2008 @ 8:15 pm
Obama self-identifies as black, but with a white mother and a Kenyan father, shares no personal, historical bond with the issue of black slavery in the US.
Actually, isn’t his wife Michelle a descendant of slaves? This would indicate a personal and deliberate interest on the part of the President-elect to engage the story of American slavery, as his daughters would share that legacy.
Comment by Yamara — November 15, 2008 @ 9:44 pm
This is kind of what I pointed out in comment #34 in the November 7th ‘Obamaland’ post. Most of these areas are rural with a higher than average percentage of black residents. This map expands on that point by showing that many rural black people still live near where their ancestors once were slaves.
It’s kind of the same thing here in south Louisiana. The blue areas and the areas that are light red are parishes (counties) that have higher percentages of black people than the surrounding areas. Outside the cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the rural parishes that are blue or light red correspond (for the most part) with areas where in the past sugar cane plantations were largest.
…it’s actually a little more complicated than that, what with suburbs adding primarily white conservative voters to formerly rural areas, but I didn’t really want to go into a parish-by-parish breakdown.
Comment by boznia — November 15, 2008 @ 11:01 pm
Great map. It tells in demographic evidence what I already knew.
@Ben
Good correlation and connecting the dots, so to speak, on rice (of which the knowledge, cultivation, and cooking of was brought to this hemisphere by Black African women enslaved by slavers), tobacco, and cotton.
Much knowledge on agriculture was taken by European whites from enslaved Africans in this hemisphere. The areas you mentioned (Alabama-Mississippi, Virginia, South Carolina ) are excellent examples of the most well-known crops that enslaved black people grew through their unpaid for labor.
It is also not surprising that the numerical demographics of black people has not changed much in the last 100 years. Even during the Great Migration, not many black people left the South (due to lack of money, a job waiting on them up North, lack of relatives living up North, no desire to leave loved ones, etc.). There are some black people returning to the South, after living years up North, Mid-west, and in the West.
As we black Americans say, “The South is our Old Country”.
The issue is definitely RACE, nothing else.
Not even demographics, if you take out the numbers of blacks as opposed to whites, and others.
It ain’t water, either.
RACE.
CHANGE is terrifying to many people, and some would rather have the same disgusting evil (Bush, Reagan, Wilson)…..ANYTHING, but, a better life that can be had by ALL.
America’s race issue ain’t going anywhere, especially the cruelty against her black citizens until she truly acknowledges that.
Until you confront a sick sadistic problem such as American anti-black hatred, not much chance of any real “change” occurring.
No matter how many so-caled “Black” presidents are elected.
On this comment:
“Obama self-identifies as black, but with a white mother and a Kenyan father, shares no personal, historical bond with the issue of black slavery in the US.”
Obama is “Black” only due to the infamous ODR. He is no more a “Black American” than I am an Italian American, or Chinese American.
He has a Kenyan father, and a white American mother, therefore, he is not a Black American. And not just on the slavery issue, only.
Just about anyone can call themselves a “Black/African-American”, no matter how little African blood they have in them, but, let a black American try and acknowledge all that makes them an “American”:
-blood of white rapists (due to slavery and Jane Crow segregation)
-blood of Native Americans (Cherokee, Coctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole) of the South, who enslaved black people;
and that black person is looked at as if they are insane.
But, it is perfectly alright for everyone else to claim their multi-heritage—-except American-born blacks.
Obama is not a black American. He has not lived around black Americans all his life, he was not raised by a black American mother, he has no ties to ancestor enslavement in his family—-therefore he is not a Black American.
Black man, yes.
But, not black American.
There is a difference.
There is an old joke in Kisumu (Kenya) that a Luo will become president of the United States before becoming president of Kenya.
It has indeed come true.
(Kisimu, a city in Kenya, has an ethnic majority of Luo, the ethnic group of the top opposition leader and coincidentally the same ethnic group of Mr. Obama’s father.)
So, you see. . . .
. . . .America did not elect a black American as president. She elected a black man as president.
Therefore, the president-elect is a biracial man classed as black due to the ODR.
If everyone else can decide who is or is not a part of their group (Native Americans can decide who is a “Native American”; Italian Americnas can decide who is an “Italian American”, etc.), then why is it that black Americans are still denied this right to self identify as well as to whom WE consider a black american to be? Why is it still acceptable for every non-black American to decide for US whom a black American is?
Obama is not a black American, just because he says so, or just because he identifies with black Americans.
It is more than blood that can make a person a black American.
Then again, since when have black American’s feelings about racial issues in this country on their identity ever been respected?
The only “Black Americans” who will be in the White House after Inauguaration Day, will be Michelle, Sasha and Malia.
The president of the United States will be the son of an African and a white American mother.
On another note, have you questioned why so many “white states” (for lack of a better term), such as Maine, Vermont, Iowa, etc., gave overwhelming support to Obama? Is it because they feel they do not have a “Black problem” in their states because there are so few black residents (And no, I do not consider black people a problem, only white racism, which started the race probem centuries ago).
Is it because whites in the South fear truly sharing equal improvements in this country with blacks who live in the South, or is it that whites in the so-called “whitest” states feel that they have nothing to lose by voting for Obama because they may feel that not many blacks will move to say, Vermont, Iowa, the way many blacks have moved to say, Michigan?
Just why did Obama win so many white votes outside of the South.
Surely it cannot be that whites in states like Iowa and Vermont are more enightened and respectful of the humanity of black citizens than white Southerners?
@Yamara.
“Actually, isn’t his wife Michelle a descendant of slaves? This would indicate a personal and deliberate interest on the part of the President-elect to engage the story of American slavery, as his daughters would share that legacy.
It SHOULD.
America has run like a rancid coward from her vicious hatred of her black citizens.
She has gone on record, verbally, and morally, championing the rights of the vicitms of the German Holocaust (which happened in Nazi Germany), but, she has not the guts nor the moral backbone to acknowledge the savage depraved Holocaust against her own black citizens right here in the good ol’ USA.
The racial differences in voting does not surprise me.
This country has had nothig but contempt and hatred against black Americans. If it could herd black citizens into concentration camps, it would do it.
Electing a “black” man as president will not make America’s racial hatred against her black citizens go away; it will take much, much more than just a presidential election to confront and finally reconcile over 450 years of attempted annihilation of black American citizens.
Comment by Ann — November 15, 2008 @ 11:12 pm
[...] From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents | Strange Maps: There’s been plenty of discussion about how race (i.e. the fact that Barack Obama isn’t white) affected the US election. Here’s a comparison of the map of cotton production from 1860 compared with voting patterns earlier this month. The resemblance is both uncanny and scary. [...]
Pingback by Stilgherrian · Links for 16 November 2008 — November 15, 2008 @ 11:51 pm
“(2) Obama self-identifies as black, but with a white mother and a Kenyan father, shares no personal, historical bond with the issue of black slavery in the US.”
Yes, he does. His wife’s ancestors were slaves, and his mother’s ancestors were slaveowners.
Check out what the genealogy fans have discovered.
http://www.wargs.com/political/obama.html
Comment by Charlene — November 16, 2008 @ 1:22 am
Also, if that genealogy is accurate (and the writer says it’s just a work in progress), the people claiming to have located President-elect Obama’s “Irish” ancestral home can go away. He’s only 3.125% Irish, but he’s 37.40234375% English.
I love percentages like that.
Comment by Charlene — November 16, 2008 @ 1:28 am
[...] Strange Maps er et oppkomme av fascinerende kunnskap. Idag: nedenstående kart som viser hvordan fylker i sørstatene stemte i årets presidentvalg (blått er som vanlig – og forvirrende for europeere – fylker som gikk for Obama). Under det sees en oversikt over bomullsproduksjonen i 1860, og nederst et kombinasjonskart. [...]
Pingback by Eiriks forfatterblogg :: Fra bomullsplukking til presidentplukking — November 16, 2008 @ 7:59 am
[...] worth reading the comments on the original post at Strange Maps as people attempt to explain the finer [...]
Pingback by Stilgherrian · Echoes of America’s racial history — November 16, 2008 @ 8:03 am
Very interesting comparisons. Great post.
Comment by shaeshae — November 16, 2008 @ 1:40 pm
Another interesting map shows Obama’s percentage of the total vote in each state, whether he won or lost it, compared to John Kerry’s percentage of the total vote in 2004. Obama ended up getting a higher percentage in 46 out of 50 states. The only four exceptions, the states in which he did relatively worse than Kerry, are Arizona (John McCain’s home state), Louisiana (many blacks left the state after Katrina), Arkansas (no clear cause, perhaps tepid support for Obama from the Clintons), and Tennessee (no one has any idea).
Comment by ironrailsironweights — November 16, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
hell of a job in that map.
Comment by Tom Peters — November 16, 2008 @ 3:43 pm
[...] ktoś nie widzi zazębiających się wzorów to zobaczy je na StrangeMaps, gdzie znalazłem te mapy, a gdzie znajduje się obraz powstały z nałożenia dwóch map na [...]
Pingback by » Amerykańska polityka bywa skomplikowana Trystero: O tym się nie pisze. — November 16, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
Anyone know anything about the cotton producing region between tennesee and Alabama that stayed red?
Comment by david — November 16, 2008 @ 8:25 pm
@goateebird: IT’s not quite accurate to say the KKK *is* headquartered in that area in southcentral Tennessee. Today there are dozens of unrelated hate groups calling themselves the Ku Klux Klan (or some variant on it). with the largest ones being based on Texas, Kentucky, and Indiana. That being said, that is the area where the original KKK was founded, and according to the map Pingback posted in Comment #8, it has a much lower African-American density than areas with similar levels of cotton production on the first map.
@Ann: I had been sadly prepared for a fair number of anti-black racist comments in the comment section. I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of them. It’s a shame you prevent me from saying the same about anti-white racist comments. And comments like “Obama is not a black American. He has not lived around black Americans all his life, he was not raised by a black American mother, he has no ties to ancestor enslavement in his family—-therefore he is not a Black American.” are, in a very literal sense, ridiculous.
Comment by rhodent — November 16, 2008 @ 9:04 pm
Of white voters, only 43% voted for Obama; since Lyndon B. Johnson, no Democratic candidate for the highest office has ever garnered more than half the votes of European-Americans.
You mean anglo saxon white (european) americans I suppose because Jews have consistently been voting Dems for the past years in 75+%.
Comment by Abravanel — November 16, 2008 @ 9:25 pm
@rhodent.
“I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of them. It’s a shame you prevent me from saying the same about anti-white racist comments.”
So. . . .
. . . .telling the true history of America (rape of defenseless enslaved black girls, women; selling of his own flesh-and-blood children, by the white rapist slavemaster; torture/burning/castration of tied up black men and boys during the lynching Nadir; racist applications of the GI Bill, FHA home loans, redlining, gerrymandering, racial covenants—–strikes YOU as anti-white.
Hmm.
Does not surprise me that there are some people so drowning in a sea of denial about this country’s atrocities against her black citizens.
I am used to telling the truth about America.
You should get used to hearing the truth.
The truth about the abominations that white men and women have committed against millions of black citizens, never has gone down well, with those suffering from denial. But, get a cold glass of water, put that jagged little pill (the truth) in your mouth and swallow it down.
‘Kay?
And comments like “Obama is not a black American. He has not lived around black Americans all his life, he was not raised by a black American mother, he has no ties to ancestor enslavement in his family—-therefore he is not a Black American.” are, in a very literal sense, ridiculous.”
Obama is a black man, born in America.
Not a black American.
Learn the difference.
Just because white people (and other non-black *people*) have lorded over black Americans what a “black person” is for over four centuries, and with the hypocrisy of the ODR, does not make what Massa and Missus say is law.
The last time I looked—-white men and women are not God.
Never have been.
Never will be.
Black Americans have the right to self-determine what WE consider a black American to be.
Not. . .any. . .damn. . .body else.
‘Kay?
Comment by Ann — November 16, 2008 @ 11:04 pm
[...] Correlating the election results in the South with cotton output in 1860. [...]
Pingback by Blah! › Analyzing the Election — November 16, 2008 @ 11:39 pm
Very interesting strange Map
Comment by deborah7 — November 16, 2008 @ 11:57 pm
Very interesting strange Map correlaing cooton and african american
Comment by deborah7 — November 16, 2008 @ 11:57 pm
[...] at Strangemaps blog, http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/330-from-pickin-cotton-to-pickin-presidents/ he put up an interesting post (”330 – From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ [...]
Pingback by COTTON, VOTES, AND THE PROMISE OF CHANGE « BEAUTIFUL, ALSO, ARE THE SOULS OF MY BLACK SISTERS — November 17, 2008 @ 12:38 am
Abravanel: Jews are what, 3% of US population?
Comment by Anton Sherwood — November 17, 2008 @ 1:53 am
Ann, I was with you most of the way, until we got to:
“Black Americans have the right to self-determine what WE consider a black American to be.”
Can you see the circularity there?
Comment by Joshua Rodman — November 17, 2008 @ 3:38 am
[...] (11/16/2008): Along the lines of the some of the comments below, I came across this composite map (from the Strange Maps blog) showing the counties that voted for Obama vs. McCain (blue and red colors, respectively) with the [...]
Pingback by Electoral and Geologic Boundaries « Clastic Detritus — November 17, 2008 @ 4:05 am
You’re all racist!
Comment by hello — November 17, 2008 @ 4:07 am
Fascinating maps. I’m from northern Alabama, and I know that much of the cotton production in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee during the antebellum era was done on small family farms rather than large plantations. These poor white farmers couldn’t afford slaves, and resented having to compete with plantations that relied on slave labor. During the Civil War, many of these poor white farmers sided with the North. My own great grandfather was born just after the start of the war, and was named after Abraham Lincoln. His older brother actually fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union. Those who sided with the North often faced bloody reprisals from pro-Confederacy terrorists. These terrorists went on to form the KKK after the war’s end to continue their revenge against white Southerners who sided with the North, freed slaves, and northern “carpetbaggers” who came to the South during Reconstruction. I have to assume that the reason the KKK originated in this region was that this particular part of the South was bitterly divided by the war.
Comment by Greg — November 17, 2008 @ 4:14 am
@Ann:
Maybe you think it’s not racist when you say that Barack Obama is not a Black American because he lacks racial purity (which, let’s face it, is pretty much what your argument boils down to), but I do.
Maybe you think it’s not racist when you paint all whites with a broad brush via statements like saying the only reason white people in “white states” are willing to vote for Obama is because “they feel they do not have a ‘Black problem’ in their states because there are so few black residents”, but I do.
Mayne you think it’s not racist to make outlandish, unsupported claims such as that the country would “herd black citizens into concentration camps” if it could, but I do.
Maybe you think it’s not racist to refer to white people as “Massa and Missus”, but I do.
And even if I had denied your statements about how blacks have been treated in America over the centuries, it would have nothing to do with whether or not your statements were racist. Your alleged uttering of racist statements and my alleged state of denial are two completely separate issues.
Comment by rhodent — November 17, 2008 @ 4:32 am
I remember first seeing that arc across the South in the famous 2000 USA Today county-by-county map that helped establish the modern notion of “red/blue America”. It didn’t take long to figure out that it represented places with lots of African-Americans, but now I know why.
Comment by Matt McIrvin — November 17, 2008 @ 5:33 am
[...] This is taken from a post at Strange Maps. [...]
Pingback by Cotton Picking Slaves and Obama | MichaelTunney.com — November 17, 2008 @ 5:54 am
@rhodent. “Maybe you think it’s not racist when you say that Barack Obama is not a Black American because he lacks racial purity (which, let’s face it, is pretty much what your argument boils down to), but I do.”
“Racial purity”? How do you come to a conclusion that I spoke of “racial purity”?
Because of white male hatred of black women and girls (during slavery/Reconstruction/segregation), black Americans HAVE NO RACIAL PURITY. We have the blood of white rapists that flows in our veins.
There is not a black American who can claim racial purity no thanks to white male rapists, no matter whether they were the slave holder, his son, white male visitors to the plantation, white male overseers, white male KKK night riders, white male Red Shirts, white patrollers, etc. Black Americans have had to suffer from the audacity of whites who decided whether blacks would live, whether blacks would die, whether or not black could claim all their heritage—-even if it was the blood of rapists.
Just because so many white people have declared for centuries what a black person was (or was not) is one more thing that whites will finally have to face the fact of—-cease-and-desist in lording over black people what WE are. For too long, Massa and Missus (and yes, I will use those terms, because they included the slave owner, and the poor whites [whom a black slave/ex-slave still had to address as "Massa" or "Missus"], who did not own slaves; yes, I will use those terms because ANY WHITE had the power of life and death over any black man, woman or child, especially during Reconstruction and during segregation).
Maybe if more whites would divest themselves of the Massa/Missus mentality, there will be more respect and trust towards whites, but, not much chance of that happening.
Whites have ruled and destroyed for far too long and no longer see the vestiges of their race hatred against blacks, even into the present day. (Some do, but, many do not.)
“Maybe you think it’s not racist when you paint all whites with a broad brush via statements like saying the only reason white people in “white states” are willing to vote for Obama is because “they feel they do not have a ‘Black problem’ in their states because there are so few black residents”, but I do.”
And I still question why so many whites in Vermont, Iowa, voted for Obama, as opposed to whites who voted against their interests in Texas, Georgia, etc. With the way whites and blacks still live the most segregated lives in this country, no way can you tell me that whites are necessarily more enlightened up North, than whites in the American South.
“Mayne you think it’s not racist to make outlandish, unsupported claims such as that the country would “herd black citizens into concentration camps” if it could, but I do.”
Why not?
Whites enslaved black Americans.
Whites committed barbaric torture during lynchings against black people: cutting off fingers, toes, noses, ears, penises—-and keeping them as souvenirs.
Whites ran black people out of their homes in ethnic cleansings in Greenwood, OK., Rosewood, Florida, Wilmington, North Carolina, then stole every bit of property they did not destroy.
Whites murdered, raped, brutalized defenseless black Americans in race massacres (you know them as race riots): Irish, in Chicago 1919, Irish, in East St. Louis, 1917; Italians in the Spring Valley Massacre, 1895.
Whites have done just about everything they can to destroy black Americans, and that is mainly because we have been the moral conscience of this nation, where whites, OVERWHELMINGLY, have not.
“And even if I had denied your statements about how blacks have been treated in America over the centuries, it would have nothing to do with whether or not your statements were racist. Your alleged uttering of racist statements and my alleged state of denial are two completely separate issues.”
No, not racist statements. Just the truth.
You just simply hate reading the truth.
You want to face facts of why this country is in the shape it is in, look into the history of this country.
It was not black people who created this abomination, and kept it going.
So, no, whites do not get anymore the right to decide who does or does not have humanity, especially when they, of all people, have been the most brutal, the most vicious, the most vindictive, the most savage towards black Americans.
Maybe if you knew the difference between a black American, a Kenyan, and what much of white America will tolerate and accept (Obama), as opposed to the millions of bi-racial/mixed blood children of white male rapists (many of whom are still alive, no thanks to white male rapists of Jane Crow segregation), then you would comprehend why I do not consider Obama a black American just because you and others consider him so.
All black Americans are not Borg-like-lock-step in their mentality. Surprise!—we actually all have diverse opinions and viewpoints.
Comment by Ann — November 17, 2008 @ 6:06 am
[...] Maps posts this very interesting two-part map. The red and blue are the county-level results from the 2008 presidential election. The [...]
Pingback by Read at Joe’s » From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents — November 17, 2008 @ 6:07 am
This is a response to Ann.
!/Because of white male hatred of black women and girls (during slavery/Reconstruction/segregation), black Americans HAVE NO RACIAL PURITY. We have the blood of white rapists that flows in our veins./!
Do you have any knowledge of genetics? It’s nice to wax poetic about some sort of nasty, foreign blood of which you can’t rid yourself, but it’s quite a part of your being. [Statement 1]
Satire: THIS must be the contribution made by inbred whites, culminating in the high level of black crime. [Statement 2]
!/There is not a black American who can claim racial purity no thanks to white male rapists, no matter whether they were the slave holder…etc. Black Americans have had to suffer from the audacity of whites who decided whether blacks would live, whether blacks would die, whether or not black could claim all their heritage—-even if it was the blood of rapists./!
There were a few marriages betwixt both imports. If you’re so anti-white and pro-heritage, why are you using the English language? Please stop using the alphabet, a tool developed by those of the Northwestern regions of Eurasia.
Let’s stop beating around the bushmen. You feel inferior, and you feel fear; which is absolutely ridiculous, esp. from the view of some possible cosmic blueprint.
If it helps any, I shall now lead your eye to the following: Slavery is one of the oldest and most savage of all human [social] inventions — it is possibly the worst form of psychological torture — originating alongside social hierarchies, and religion and war. The men who first journeyed from Africa to the Middle East undoubtedly brought with them the wives of other men. Here, in Africa, it began, and not until the times of the Arabian slave trade did it specialize in Africans.
!/Just because so many white people have declared for centuries what a black person was (or was not) is one more thing that whites will finally have to face the fact of—-cease-and-desist in lording over black people what WE are./!
Now, you’re losing me. Huh?
Ah, err, ah. Ah… Ah… … … Ah. Ah… … .. .. .. .. . . . . . . . .
People often identify outsiders as barbarians. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Chinese, the Romans, et ad infinitum et ceterum, deemed everyone outside of the rules and customs to be barbarians. The bonus of this view, obviously, is that [sic] outsiders may be treated as sub-human.
!/For too long, Massa and Missus (and yes, I will use those terms, because they included the slave owner, and the poor whites [whom a black slave/ex-slave still had to address as "Massa" or "Missus"], who did not own slaves; yes, I will use those terms because ANY WHITE had the power of life and death over any black man, woman or child, especially during Reconstruction and during segregation)./!
Do you know of Europe, that continent full of whitey, and its peaceful transition to freedom for all?
!/Maybe if more whites would divest themselves of the Massa/Missus mentality, there will be more respect and trust towards whites, but, not much chance of that happening./!
How’ve you been subjugated lately?
When’ll it be good ‘nough?
!/Whites have ruled and destroyed for far too long and no longer see the vestiges of their race hatred against blacks, even into the present day. (Some do, but, many do not.)/!
What might fix this? I suppose we ought to look into Africa; they seem to know what they’re doing; and thus, they never, _ever_, EVER _hire_ outsiders to assist in positions of governance, etc. Bleh bleh bleh.
!/And I still question why so many whites in Vermont, Iowa, voted for Obama, as opposed to whites who voted against their interests in Texas, Georgia, etc. With the way whites and blacks still live the most segregated lives in this country, no way can you tell me that whites are necessarily more enlightened up North, than whites in the American South./!
‘Tis pitifully easy to be angry and self-righteously critical; try offering answers to these problems; otherwise, you’re just a part of the equation! Hooray!
How do we end segregation?
Must you belittle all white people? You apparently don’t appreciate a rather important swathe of philosophy, science, medicine, technology, global progress and so on and so frothingly forth.
!/Whites committed barbaric torture during lynchings against black people: cutting off fingers, toes, noses, ears, penises—-and keeping them as souvenirs./!
There oughtn’t be any denial of these statements. Such atrocities occur on all parts of our infected little-blue-gem. You’ve not heard of the terrors of East Asia, Africa, and North and South America, I presume? Europe is merely a drop in a sea of decay; the fetid civilizations of Earth, oily blankets of coral atop a dead reef; and on forever our story grows, a tumor wrapped in the promise of perishing amidst every scale of nature. Indeed, we fail! Isn’t it splendid? Do you feel your teeth rotting?
I could just as easily hate x number of people within these recent ancestral histories, and to what end?
!/Whites ran black people out of their homes in ethnic cleansings in Greenwood, OK., Rosewood, Florida, Wilmington, North Carolina, then stole every bit of property they did not destroy./!
Everyone has run everyone else out of health and home for eons. How’re you doing?
!/Whites have done just about everything they can to destroy black Americans, and that is mainly because we have been the moral conscience of this nation, where whites, OVERWHELMINGLY, have not./!
Am I understanding you correctly? Almost ALL browns have been oppressed to the point of utter destruction, yet they have somehow managed to be “the moral conscience” of those united States. Really. REALLY. Huh.
There’s another angle to answer, another slightly important fallacy that I’ll leave to someone else.
!/You just simply hate reading the truth./!
Gawd, Laird. Don’chu know it!
!/You want to face facts of why this country is in the shape it is in, look into the history of this country. It was not black people who created this abomination, and kept it going./!
Absolutely. However, if you’re going to call this country an abomination and THEN declare this monster to be solely spawned via clade, then I’m inclined to ask you what sort of countries yo’ people have created and maintained. By the way, I’ll be moving to Norway soon, and I bet you can’t guess why.*
You’re probably a troll. ; ^ )
!/So, no, whites do not get anymore the right to decide who does or does not have humanity, especially when they, of all people, have been the most brutal, the most vicious, the most vindictive, the most savage towards black Americans./!
How vicious have black Americans been? Africans? Chinese? Arabs? Native North and South Americans? Europeans? Indians? Persians? Lions? Tigers? Bears?
If you want to make generalizations, I’ve got one: Europeans have not only destroyed the most, but they have restored the most.
!/All black Americans are not Borg-like-lock-step in their mentality. Surprise!—we actually all have diverse opinions and viewpoints./!
And yet, you still hate “the man.” Go figure! Why aren’t you using that racist brain to develop vaccines?
“The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us.” – Paul Valery.
* My decision is not based whatsoever on the ethnicity of the population, so don’t guess that; et te, noli nunc mentulate et cac et coleite solus vocere.
Comment by Leuccipus — November 17, 2008 @ 9:47 am
[...] 330 – From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents: “ I received an overlay of both maps from Mark Root-Wiley: ‘The borders do not line up perfectly but came closer than I thought they would. The top layer had to be made semitransparent in order to see the blue vs. red breakdown in Arkansas/Lousiana/Mississippi, but I think it’s pretty useful. The correlation was even stronger than I thought.” [...]
Pingback by 330 - From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents | Saputnik Film — November 17, 2008 @ 10:00 am
Edit: “…mentulae et…colei [>] solum…”
X ^ P
Comment by Leuccipus — November 17, 2008 @ 10:14 am
Love your work on this artical. I am a history buff my self and this really neet. What made you think to compare?
Comment by kanadra — November 17, 2008 @ 11:47 am
[...] Een overlay van twee kaarten uit twee verschillende tijdperken met twee totaal verschillende soorten data. De eerste met rood en blauw toont de verkiezeingsuitslagen van 4 november 2008. Blauw is Obama en rood is McCain. De zwarte puntjes tonen de katoenproductie uit 1860 (vlak voor de amerikaanse burgeroorlog), waarbij elk puntje 2000 balen katoen voorstelt. Nog geen reacties. Dit is uw kans om de eerste en misschien wel de enigste te zijn. Go champ go! [...]
Pingback by eskimokaka » Kaart VS: katoenproductie 1860 - presidentsverkiezingen 2008 — November 17, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
[...] November 17, 2008 at 12:31 pm (links) (bad acting, beatles, commercial, cotton picking, creepy, election, hornets, japanese, killer, lost, map, skittles, track, vending machines) Cotton Picking Map of the South and who voted republican in the last election [...]
Pingback by Monday’s Links « The Junkyard — November 17, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
Interesting Post for sure.
@Ann-
I am a bi-racial woman, and I caught hell on both sides growing up. Trust me- racist white people hate me as much as they hate you. However, to paint all whites with this broad brush of rapists and whatever else is ludicrous. I have whites in my family- they have saved my life on numerous occassions, and most of what I learned about tolerance I learned from them.
What hurt me the most as a child, were black American women, such as yourself, and their treatment of me. I, similar to what you keep repeating in your posts, was never “black enough”… and caught hell for it accordingly.
YOU are the reason why black women (myself included)have to work so hard- still, in the year 2008- to be treated with any respect whatsoever.
This angry blackness has to stop.
Have you tried to open any minds lately? What, exactly are you doing to further the cause of black people by spewing a bunch of hate?
Our culture- our black culture- is in shambles. A lot of it is the result of slavery. A lot of it is the result of Jim Crow. A lot of it is also the result of US…
Of our sons refusing to be fathers to their children…
Of too many of us sitting around, waiting for a hand-out from white people, the government, etc… because we feel we are entitled to it, given our history.
That proverbial handout is never going to come. Even after we elect 1,000 black presidents, the handout isn’t coming.
Perhaps, given our history, and the way our ancestors were forced here from Africa, we deserved more than what we got… more assistance getting acclimated after slavery, more tolerance, more job/education opportunities…
But we didn’t get them.
Are we going to moan about it forever? Or do something about it?
What about all the opportunities afforded young blacks today? Why aren’t more of us seizing the chances to go to college? Why aren’t we, as parents, requiring greatness from our children? They have opportunities now that our grandparents never had. Yet we shun those opportunities, those very things our ancestors died for us to have… choosing welfare and state assistance instead… choosing to complain about our crappy lot in life… all the while doing nothing to improve it.
Do you honestly believe that Barack Obama’s peers gave a damn that he isn’t, in your eyes, a black American? People took a single look at him, just as they do when looking at you or I, and made up their minds. Racists did not excuse his brown skin, merely because his father is from Kenya. Trust me- he caught hell for his skin color just as you or I have caught hell for ours.
The difference between Barack Obama and you, Ann, is that he chose to rise above it. He refused to lump a single race of people- be it white or black- into a single stereotype.
He chose to take action and get things done… as opposed to merely complaining about his crappy lot in life. He, like many of us, came from humble beginnings…
… Yet look at him now.
And then, step back and look at yourself.
Shameful.
Comment by chaze77 — November 17, 2008 @ 1:19 pm
[...] misto articolul de pe Strange Maps, site-ul prezinta doua harti: una cu votantii democrati ai lui Barack Obama si a [...]
Pingback by De la bumbac la Obama | Codex Politicus — November 17, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
[...] interesting stuff: From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents Share my Shit [...]
Pingback by From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents | Blogbdon — November 17, 2008 @ 1:34 pm
[...] This map is taken from Strange Maps. Or, you can’t always be sure about these things, a blog called Pin The Tail. [...]
Pingback by 2008 Voting Patterns Linked To 1860 Cotton Production « Texas Liberal — November 17, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
[...] As Strange Maps points out, the correlation is [...]
Pingback by Some Interesting Statistics — November 17, 2008 @ 5:09 pm
Correlation is your friend. But did you read the book “How to lie with statistics”?
Comment by amsterdamcheapo — November 17, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
@chaze77: Thank you! Well said.
Comment by Alex — November 17, 2008 @ 5:52 pm
The Mississippi Delta, generally thought of as the swampy, pestilential area between the Yazoo River and the Mississippi River, was largely uninhabited before the Civil War. The black population that settled there came from the older slave holding states in the East. It is ironic, in some ways, that the area holding the largest percentage of African Americans in the population had little direct experience with slavery. Indeed, blacks who freely moved there were some of the most entrepreneurial in the US. In time, as Reconstruction faded away, they lost access to the courts, lost the vote and lost their land. They moved North and West to the great cities, and today have helped elect an African American as President of the United States. Quite an accomplishment! http://www.mississippidelta.com
Comment by Dgorton — November 17, 2008 @ 6:04 pm
[...] Maps: From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents By Doug Strange Maps has a good entry comparing a map of “blue” counties in the South from the recent election to a map of [...]
Pingback by Masson’s Blog - A Citizen’s Guide to Indiana » Strange Maps: From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents — November 17, 2008 @ 6:09 pm
[...] economics, history, labor, mobility, Obama, Politics, south, voting | Strange Maps had a fascinating map the other day, overlaying the county-by-county results of the Obama-McCain election in the Deep South with the [...]
Pingback by The Persistence of Geography and Demography « Overton’s Arrow — November 17, 2008 @ 6:38 pm
[...] Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents Via Instapundit via Strange Maps. If you overlay maps of where cotton was produced in the American South in the 1860’s and [...]
Pingback by From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents « Go Blog and Multiply — November 17, 2008 @ 6:42 pm
[...] overlay of the 2008 presidential map v. 1860 cotton production is fascinating. I don’t really have [...]
Pingback by Cotton Pickin’ President Obama | Back Alley Media — November 17, 2008 @ 7:01 pm
[...] Strange Maps overlays 2008 election results with concentrations of cotton production in the [...]
Pingback by DOWN IN THE LAND OF COTTON - Vote '08 : WTVC Newschannel9.com — November 17, 2008 @ 7:05 pm
In case anyone wants to look at 2000 Census maps, the Census Atlas is available at: http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/censusatlas/ In particular, see the map of Prevalent Race or Ethnicity in Chapter 3. The African-American majority counties correlate pretty closely with the Obama-voting counties and similarly with cotton-production areas (except that area in south central TN–thanks Greg for the insight on a possible explanation)
Comment by brad — November 17, 2008 @ 7:13 pm
[...] Maps overlays cotton production in 1860 with the 2008 presidential [...]
Pingback by Interesting maps « Blog o’ Ross — November 17, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
What’s the source for the cotton map?
Comment by stefan — November 17, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
[...] : Strange Maps – RealClearPolitics Voir aussi : Wikipedia (AIP) – [...]
Pingback by Descendant d’esclave, tu voteras démocrate en 2008 | En Amérique — November 17, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
[...] folks are picking up on this Strange Maps overlay of cotton production in 1860 and the voting patterns in this month’s presidential [...]
Pingback by Obama Lost Confederacy — November 17, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
[...] … and what exactly does this map overlay represent? [...]
Pingback by Just something interesting regarding geography and history « Cenantua’s Blog — November 17, 2008 @ 7:23 pm
[...] blog Strange Maps lays a map of southern cotton production in 1860 atop a map of county-level Presidential election [...]
Pingback by Cotton and Obama | Fresh Loaf — November 17, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
I’m descended from slave owning cotton planters from Mississippi, and I voted Obama. As far as I know I have no slave ancestry, for what it’s worth, but you never know.
I have a couple things to say regarding this map.
Firstly, “goateebird” is off base when he implies a causal relationship between the two variables’ disconnection in the Lawrenceburg area, and the founding of the Klan some thirty five miles away in Pulaski.
Aside from the distinction between the Reconstruction Klan and the 20th century Klan, which tends to lean against goateebird’s suggestion, there’s a more critical factor, which also explains the fact that Davidson County, in middle Tennessee, is colored very blue, and has no cotton production on the 1860 map.
The Union Army controlled Nashville from fairly early in the war, and Nashville was a central base of operations. Slaves from all over the middle part of the south were liberated or fled to the protection of the Union Army. In fact, there’s a large, densely populated African American neighborhood called Edgehill, which as the name implies is adjacent to a hill upon which was Fort Negley where thousands of Union Army soldiers were garrisoned. Many Edgehill residents are descended from the very same slaves who worked cotton in south and west Tennessee in 1860. I suggest that some African Americans historically tied to the cotton producing counties that voted Republican in 2008 contributed to the African American vote that helped Obama win Nashville and Davidson County overwhelmingly.
Nashville, being one of the few early Northern-controlled cities of the South, was a destination for liberated and escaped slaves.
Obviously there was a lot more rural migration to cities later, but the African American population of Nashville has been significant since the Civil War.
Comment by DG — November 17, 2008 @ 7:31 pm
[...] Plus de détails ici. [...]
Pingback by L’élection au cotton - Le Petit Émerillon — November 17, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
Fascinating. For another look at the same region see here (full disclosure, yes it’s by blog):
http://paleoprof.blogspot.com/2008/11/geology-controls-everything.html
Comment by Paleoprof — November 17, 2008 @ 7:54 pm
@ Ann (#18)
Would you like to explain the racist comments made by black leaders Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and Jessie Jackson.
Do you think many black people are listening to Bill Cosby. Have you read his book: Come on, People. Do you think most black people will listen to him, or ignore him?
Comment by Bourgoises Pig — November 17, 2008 @ 8:03 pm
[...] has to be one of the most fascinating electoral maps I’ve ever seen. The dot density overlay shows cotton production in 1860, which has a [...]
Pingback by » Cotton and Obama Half Past Noon — November 17, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
[...] probably realizing Profunksticated has a fascination with maps. Here’s one more from this site, showing the correlation between the black vote for Obama in the south and pre-Civil War cotton [...]
Pingback by Profunksticated :: Pickin’ Cotton and Presidents :: November :: 2008 — November 17, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
@stefan: I remember seeing a version of the cotton map in Gavin Wright’s Old South New South, but don’t have it handy to check the source. The data must be from USDA (download yourself here: http://www.nass.usda.gov/QuickStats/indexbysubject.jsp?Pass_group=Crops+%26+Plants). Looks like the image above is from this National Park Service site? http://www.nps.gov/history/seac/beneathweb/ch13.htm
Comment by brad — November 17, 2008 @ 8:13 pm
It was a glorious day in America when the mandate of the American people chose Barack Obama as President. This is a well needed shift in the political culture in the United States. I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this victory like Barack Obama. I am very proud to witness this historic victory in my time. In my previous post: http://legalconsulting.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/obama-biden-a-winning-ticketbut-obama-clinton-a-landslide-victory/
I predicted that Hillary Clinton should be the Secretary of State. I hope this Administration will honor her. I am optimistic that America will rise above this recession and help is on the way. God bless America!
Comment by The Legal Mind — November 17, 2008 @ 8:19 pm
[...] the neat blog Strange Maps — a map of the U.S. South, overlaying where cotton was picked in 1860 versus Presidential [...]
Pingback by Brendan O’Connor’s Blog - AI and Social Science » Correlations - cotton picking vs. 2008 Presidential votes — November 17, 2008 @ 8:41 pm
@Paleoprof: Very interesting observation.
Comment by .msb — November 17, 2008 @ 8:58 pm
[...] Strange Maps overlays cotton production in 1860 to the Presidential election results of 2008. [...]
Pingback by The Crossed Pond » Map of the Day — November 17, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
[...] Obama’s election actually meant the end of racial problems in this country, check out this map that overlays 2008 voting patterns and 1860 cotton production (h/t Daily [...]
Pingback by Grain of Salt Time — The Opposite of Jim Bunning — November 17, 2008 @ 9:29 pm
To expand on Comment 59 by Dgorton:
The correlation is poor in the area of northern Mississippi that is the Yazoo River Delta. At the time of the cotton production data (1860), it was an sparsely populated flood prone swamp (see the Vicksburg Campaign during the Civil War for details of how rough the area was). According to some, Yazoo is the native word for “river of death”.
Afterward the Civil War, flood control made it into one of the richest cotton production areas of the world. Your map may have better correlation than you realize.
Comment by Mike — November 17, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
[...] reflexión sobre la distribución de votos según la recolección del algodón (enlace) Elecciones americanas, claro… también reflexiona como Obama se ha hehco parte de la causa [...]
Pingback by Enlazator 3.7 | Aglarond Blog — November 17, 2008 @ 9:41 pm
For what little it’s worth, my road atlas says 17 miles from Lawrenceburg to Pulaski, not 35.
Comment by Anton Sherwood — November 17, 2008 @ 9:55 pm
[...] 330 – From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents « Strange Maps [...]
Pingback by links for 2008-11-17 | hxf148 — November 17, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
@Ann:
Just a few small pickin’s–
“Whites have ruled and destroyed for far too long and no longer see the vestiges of their race hatred against blacks, even into the present day. (Some do, but, many do not.)”
Which whies? Not any in my family, back to the founding of America. I’ve destroyed no one–let alone singling out “blacks” (dark browns) for destruction I have no time or inclination to perform. As far as I can tell, I rule no one save myself (more than can be said for you, apparently).
I say again, which whites have done/do these things? Talk at/to them and leave folks who’ve not done a thing to you and yours alone.
“Whites murdered, raped, brutalized defenseless black Americans in race massacres (you know them as race riots)… ”
Yeh, yeh, and I lived through some times when /some/ “blacks” rioted and destroyed (mostly their own homes and neighborhoods–real smart, that) and killed. So? I should from that infer that ALL “blacks” are rioters-in-waiting? Nope. That’d be as stupid as your implication that all whites are evil incarnate.
“All black Americans are not Borg-like-lock-step in their mentality. Surprise!—we actually all have diverse opinions and viewpoints.”
Cluebat, Ann: learn how to use English to make sense. This is but one of many comments you made that is simply stupid on its face. I doubt you really meant, “All black Americans are not…” since that makes the sentence easily refutable. You probably meant “Not all black Americans are… ” but since you likely can’t tell the functional difference between the two statements, given the stupidity of the rest of your comments, there’s not really any way to tell.
“Maybe if more whites would divest themselves of the Massa/Missus mentality, there will be more respect and trust towards whites, but, not much chance of that happening.”
Maybe if you’d take the big chip off your shoulder and the beam out of your own eye you’d see how few “whites” have EVER had such an attitude.
Maybe. But I’ll not hold my breath, except when the stench of your racism (and idiotic sexism–”Jane Crow” indeed *feh*) wafts by.
Have a nice, bile-filled life, missy.
Comment by David — November 17, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
Great map! It’s fascinating how certain factors have a huge impact on other seemingly unrelated factors. The same can be seen in Poland with regards its former partitions and current infrastructure:
http://uzar.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/age-old-legacy/
Raf
http://uzar.wordpress.com/
Comment by Raf Uzar — November 17, 2008 @ 10:12 pm
[...] http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/330-from-pickin-cotton-to-pickin-presidents/ [...]
Pingback by Happiness » Blog Archive » Pickin Cotton to Pickin Presidents — November 17, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
[...] is an overlay of two maps, 2008 presidential election results and 1860 cotton production (both by [...]
Pingback by What does it mean? — November 17, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
I think the whole exercise of distinguishing whites and blacks in terms of opinion is racist and unhelpful.
Comment by Dennis — November 18, 2008 @ 12:01 am
[...] 330 – From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents Both these maps show the same segment of the southern United States, and demonstrate a similar pattern. Yet each [...] [...]
Pingback by Top Posts « WordPress.com — November 18, 2008 @ 12:03 am
[...] 330 – From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents « Strange Maps *name [...]
Pingback by » 330 - From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents « Strange Maps mike | bietz — November 18, 2008 @ 12:29 am
“The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” — William Faulkner
Comment by croatoan — November 18, 2008 @ 1:07 am
Great, great post. I’d also noted the crescent of blue counties after the election – props to you guys for making the connection to the cotton legacy.
This post also triggered a memory of seeing this same pattern in satellite images of the south – look at a view of Georgia, AL, and MS in Google Maps satellite view and you’ll see the blue counties rendered in lighter colors than surrounding areas. These areas are still used predominantly for agriculture, and they actually have a name: the “black belt,” which refers both to the region’s rich, loamy soils and to its demographics.
So, in addition to seeing this swoosh-shaped pattern in political maps and in maps of 1860 cotton production, you’ll also note it in soil maps:
http://bama.ua.edu/~almaps/contemporarymaps/alabama/physical/soils_map.jpg
…and in geological maps of shorelines in the Cretaceous Period:
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/namK75.jpg
I had to blog about this myself – my own observations (and links to more related maps) are at
http://vigorousnorth.blogspot.com
Thanks for the great insight!
Comment by C Neal — November 18, 2008 @ 1:56 am
It’s going to be really funny when the Republican who claimed Obama was a Muslim find out their next candidate Jindal is an actual Muslim who converted to Catholicism.
Comment by karli — November 18, 2008 @ 3:00 am
I appreciate Ann’s viewpoint; some of her responders have chosen to “talk down” in their demeanor, and it lessens their argument. Ann’s viewpoint is derived from her life experiences, as is with all of us. I’m sure she knows many whites laid their lives on the line in the 60s to fight the racist injustices, but we all know it was the blacks who paid the price.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the intelligence of this thread (for the most part), and the *lack* of racist replies (relative to other blogs I’ve read) is hopeful. I think Ann’s comments are compelling, not hostile, and give some indication of her life experiences. Compassion is better served than condescension.
Comment by Doug — November 18, 2008 @ 4:02 am
Here’s a population map by county of the area:
http://216.55.182.132/FairData/Historical/map.asp?command=zmout&annot=-84392246%7C33156141&vis=2%7C1%7C2%7C2%7C2%7C1%7C1%7C1%7C1%7C&map=0&width=0&table=%2FMaptitudeTempFiles%2Fa6acb23da.htm&scope=-85852100%7C33402466%7C336.705376%7C305.483605&mapimage.x=261&mapimage.y=273&ml0=2&ml2=2&ml3=2&ml4=2
The pink and red areas are 80-100% black counties in the 2000 census. I think this supports your thesis.
Comment by Michael — November 18, 2008 @ 4:19 am
[...] I have maps on the mind, there was a cool map online today: From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents. It shows vote turnout in the American South overlaid with the historic cotton producing states. [...]
Pingback by The Bad Arts. « Capillaries — November 18, 2008 @ 4:26 am
I tend to agree with Doug. I know many black people who are angry about the past. They see it reflected in their own lives. The challenge for us ALL is to work for a better time ahead, and a better time RIGHT NOW for those whose lives we can make better. For one thing, we need to address the issues that keep those coal country folks in the pockets of the Republicans. Will they see progress, change they can believe in, under Obama? I live in the urban East, and hardly give them a thought, but I hope someone will. While politicians woo certain constituencies, ignore others, and generally take care of the wealthy, there are lots of everyday people who need real leadership. How many of the 16-year-olds born just as Clinton was elected, and who survived the past 8 years, are really ready to take their place in the world? Many are “educated” and upwardly mobile, and still know very little. Many seem to have not gotten the message about civilization and live semi-tribal lives centered around drugs, gangs and despair. I hope that Obama produces change in these lives; President Clinton produced a surplus, and was/is well spoken, but largely didn’t produce any such change. If we are to really advance as a nation, certainly the level of rancor must be brought down and the common good be redefined. I’m hoping Obama can do this, and quickly, so we can think less about the past, and more about the activities of the present (instead of why things can’t, or shouldn’t, be done) and the promise of the future. If this happens, we might just spend the next election cycle talking about why people vote/voted the way they do because of what’s happened good for them instead of simply analyzing who’s formulated the better pitch and who’s buying/bought it on the basis of their personal demographics. I thank you for these thought-provoking maps, and the comments they’ve drawn.
Comment by cookie — November 18, 2008 @ 8:24 am
[...] to strangemaps.wordpress.com, where you’ll find both larger images and further discussion (though no explanation of what [...]
Pingback by Cotton pickin’ to President pickin’ | folo — November 18, 2008 @ 10:46 am
[...] Maps a collection of… not always strange but interesting maps. Like From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents where maps of seeminly un-related content and more than a hundred years of time difference… [...]
Pingback by Wandering the (not so) dead blogs » CogDogBlog — November 18, 2008 @ 11:05 am
wow. that is really interesting.
-Michael
http://freefootballcoaching.wordpress.com/
Comment by adminmichael — November 18, 2008 @ 12:18 pm
Since Mccain won the southern ctton producing states, what is the relavance of the map. It seems the results were oposite last two times.
Comment by 1superdave — November 18, 2008 @ 12:42 pm
This is a really amazing map. Having grown up in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee with ancestry back to 1830, let me echo what Greg said earlier. The reason Lawrence county is now red is that it is, and always has been, one of the poorest white populations in the south. Lawrence County has always been about 99% white. He is also correct about the very bitter division between northern and southern sympathizers making this area a hotbed for Klan activity. Neighboring Giles county had more wealth and thus there is currently a larger black population in that county. I have also lived in Alabama’s black belt which is like living a totally different political world from the wiregrass or Appalachia.
Comment by Sam Persons Parkes — November 18, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
[...] Maps overlays cotton production in 1860 with the 2008 presidential [...]
Pingback by cotton « seeking spirit — November 18, 2008 @ 1:17 pm
[...] heavily in Obama’s favor?“ Wonkette got it from Andrew Sullivan, who got it from Strange Maps, who got it from Pin the Tail, who got it (without attribution) from me and posted it a week after [...]
Pingback by Allen Gathman » Blog Archive » I’m famous. — November 18, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
[...] our pal Dennis Bolt found this fascinating map over at one of our favorite blogs, [...]
Pingback by Charles Apple » Blog Archive » A few more items regarding the election — November 18, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
[...] An overlay of 1860’s cotton production and red/blue counties from the 2008 election from Stran… ▶ Comment /* 0) { jQuery(’#comments’).show(”, change_location()); jQuery(’#showcomments a .closed’).css(’display’, ‘none’); jQuery(’#showcomments a .open’).css(’display’, ‘inline’); return true; } else { jQuery(’#comments’).hide(”); jQuery(’#showcomments a .closed’).css(’display’, ‘inline’); jQuery(’#showcomments a .open’).css(’display’, ‘none’); return false; } } jQuery(’#showcomments a’).click(function(){ if(jQuery(’#comments’).css(’display’) == ‘none’) { self.location.href = ‘#comments’; check_location(); } else { check_location(’hide’); } }); function change_location() { self.location.href = ‘#comments’; } }); /* ]]> */ [...]
Pingback by From Picking Cotton to Picking Presidents « Real Notebook — November 18, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
@Karli: Hindu != Muslim. Or are all non-Christian religions the same to you?
Comment by Alex — November 18, 2008 @ 4:09 pm
[...] Maps has an interesting map demonstrating a marked correlation between the counties that voted for Obama and the counties that [...]
Pingback by Interesting Map « Ken and Dot’s Allsorts — November 18, 2008 @ 4:27 pm
[...] Strange Maps Permalink » Zum Seitenanfang Keine Leserbriefe und Trackbacks Bislang [...]
Pingback by ZEIT ONLINE - joerglau » Vom Baumwollpflücken zum Weissen Haus — November 18, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
[...] Obama und die Baumwollpflücker Veröffentlicht 18. November 2008 Aus der Geschichte , Querverweis , USA Tags: Barack Obama, Jörg Lau, Karte, Südstaaten, StrangeMaps, US-Wahlen 2008, Wahlen Interessantes Detail bei Jörg Lau: Wenn man die von Obama im Süden der USA gewonnenen Wahlkreise mit den Zentren der Baumwollproduktion im Jahr 1860 vergleicht, gibt es eine ziemliche Korrelation. Das Original und mehr Details gibt es bei StrangeMaps. [...]
Pingback by Obama und die Baumwollpflücker « Politikum — November 18, 2008 @ 6:30 pm
You can compare/correlate the black population from the 2000 Census using this map: http://merlot.caliper.com/maptitude/census2000maps/map.asp?command=zmin&map=7&width=0&table=&scope=-96298930%7C39101045%7C3000%7C2045.454545&mapimage.x=346&mapimage.y=263
Comment by Christine Fletcher — November 18, 2008 @ 8:14 pm
As a ‘white person’ I love being lumped in by people like Ann with all white Americans as having had something to do with American slavery.
Not one of my ancestors set foot on American soil until 1892.
Oh, and I’m Slavic. I don’t imagine I have to work too hard to explain the root of the word ‘Slav’.
So, if you really want to help America reconcile race issues, you might consider a little broader view of white people, because you turn off people like me, who are actually very sympathetic to the cause of race relations. But your tone and condescension just alienate those of us your would call ‘Massa’, because you’re doing just exactly what white bigots do in using other racial epithets. People of integrity will oppose racism, whether it comes from the mouths and keyboards of white people, or black people.
Comment by Ed Godard — November 18, 2008 @ 8:53 pm
[...] map lay over: The black dots show slaveholding in 1860. 330 – From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents Strange Maps They’re mavericks! [...]
Pingback by More bad news for Mavericks everywhere - Page 3 - Benzworld.org - Mercedes Benz Discussion Forum — November 18, 2008 @ 9:09 pm
[...] instance, there’s the one that shows how King Cotton picks Presidents, something near and dear to my heart since my family has grown cotton in Arkansas since before the [...]
Pingback by Strange Maps « Brie: It’s What’s For Breakfast — November 18, 2008 @ 10:38 pm
[...] blog … i found this on the world wide web: “from pickin’ cotton to pickin’ presidents” … it made me click on it. the info contained there is kinda random, bizarre, not quite [...]
Pingback by race-y blog … « love in other places — November 18, 2008 @ 11:17 pm
[...] was pretty startled by the two maps I saw at Strange Maps over the weekend. They showed a distinct correlation between cotton production in 1860 and Obama support in 2008. Where more cotton was picked 150 years [...]
Pingback by Mapping the South for Obama — November 19, 2008 @ 12:26 am
Messiah Obama is descended from Slave owners on the White side of his family.
again Obama is a half white man whose white southern ancestors owned black slaves.
and guess what he isnt going to do anything for blacks because they are only 15 percent of the population.following is the inaccurate statement from the above post:” (2) Obama self-identifies as black, but with a white mother and a Kenyan father, shares no personal, historical bond with the issue of black slavery in the US.
Comment by stoptheinvasionoforegon — November 19, 2008 @ 2:41 am
Top Comment . HOT
Comment by Y8 — November 19, 2008 @ 4:21 am
[...] “From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents” [...]
Pingback by OCD Late Edition: Early 90’s Colombian ‘Stache | The Official Chris Duncan Web Site — November 19, 2008 @ 5:51 am
[...] 2008 electoral votes. The black dots is a layover of another map that shows slaveholding in 1860. 330 – From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents Strange Maps They’re mavericks! [...]
Pingback by More bad news for Mavericks everywhere - Page 3 - Benzworld.org - Mercedes Benz Discussion Forum — November 19, 2008 @ 7:53 am
[...] it doesn’t mean that you’re increasing the probability that voters will sway towards Democrat. As Strange Maps points out, it is in fact a correlation to African-American population (of which 91% voted for [...]
Pingback by Cotton Picking Correlates to President Picking | FlowingData — November 19, 2008 @ 9:04 am
[...] Graphic | A fascinating then-and-now map comparison shows that the concentration of cotton production in the South in 1860 correlates pretty closely with southern counties that voted blue for Obama in 2008. The evident common denominator, of course, is African-Americans, slaves then, voters now. [Strange Maps] [...]
Pingback by From Picking Cotton to Picking a President - Ideas Blog - NYTimes.com — November 19, 2008 @ 10:47 am
karli, good rap on those ignorant Rethugs! Har har. Except that Jindal was Hindu before converting to Catholicism, so who’s ignorant?
Comment by John S. — November 19, 2008 @ 11:29 am
This reminds me of a map that Eugene Weber showed on “The Western Tradition.” The bondaries of the roman empire, the Catholic / Protestant split of about 1600, and the cold war boundaries of the 60’s are nearly identical and lie along the Rhine and Danube rivers. Clearly there’s some geography at play, but its a great corellation.
Comment by al — November 19, 2008 @ 9:51 pm
[...] — 91% of whom voted for Obama. Here’s the analysis from another excellent site, Strange Maps: The link between these two maps is not causal, but correlational, and the correlation is [...]
Pingback by correlating century-old cotton with president-picking — November 19, 2008 @ 10:11 pm
Will Negros in America ever acknowledge that if not for the institution of slavery, they would still be stuck in Africa with all the horror that entails? Amazing!
Comment by Tom — November 19, 2008 @ 11:18 pm
[...] mean that you’re increasing the probability that voters will sway towards Democrat. As Strange Maps points out, it is in fact a correlation to African-American population (of which 91% voted for [...]
Pingback by Think Stick! » Cotton Picking Correlates to President Picking — November 19, 2008 @ 11:44 pm
[...] via Strange Maps « Roll Tide, Roll! [...]
Pingback by From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents at cosmonaught — November 20, 2008 @ 3:38 am
While I agree strongly with what Ed Godard said (being a white person with a somewhat similar family history), I’d like to just point out one quick inaccuracy. The root of the word ‘Slav’ is not ’slave’ but rather the other way around. The term refers to the many many Slavs who were enslaved by Otto the Great and his successors. The term ‘Slav’ is rooted in the middle latin word ‘Sclavus’ which is probably related to the word ’slovo’ meaning word or speech.
Comment by Dan — November 20, 2008 @ 4:24 am
@Ann: Because of white male hatred of black women and girls (during slavery/Reconstruction/segregation), black Americans HAVE NO RACIAL PURITY. We have the blood of white rapists that flows in our veins.
I do not know how it feels but it made me real sad to read that. This has already happened and yes, happened it did. NOW CHANGE HAS COME. We cannot just sweep all these injustices on our fellow human beings under the carpet but we also need to heal and move on.
There is nowhere in this world where there’s total equality of all and sundry… naw. Differences are always there even in the families but life is too short to keep on focusing on ‘what they did to us’ and rather think of what can I do to make a difference.
Some whites males may have raped the defenseless black females and made them conceive and badly scarred their emotions but look, we’ve got some other very good sides of whites. Besides black people have slaughtered each other in Africa because of ethnic and tribal differences and others have played a big role in bringing peace and meaningful solutions to their problems.
I happened to be in Kenya early this year when there was a serious post election crisis and saw it all and one of their own (another good African leader) namely Mr. Koffi Anan broker peace in a country which was in the verge of collapse. What I’m I trying to say? We all have our differences in this world and WE hold the solutions and these will not come by crying ourselves to sleep over ‘what they did to us’. Change begins with you and me and I believe that time is ripe for America to heal.
Black or white, this world needs people with less baggage in their hearts, just like the President – elect – Barrack Obama.
*********************************
Tom: Will Negros in America ever acknowledge that if not for the institution of slavery, they would still be stuck in Africa with all the horror that entails? Amazing!
These are the kind of statements with no help to us at the moment.
*********************************
“From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents” – Inspiring title.
Comment by Liz — November 20, 2008 @ 6:56 am
Check out this post:
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/denmark-what-a-shame/
Comment by pakalert — November 20, 2008 @ 7:48 am
[...] http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/330-from-pickin-cotton-to-pickin-presidents/ [...]
Pingback by Strange maps again « Thing of the Day — November 20, 2008 @ 11:24 am
[...] and shifting demographics and economic differentiation on American politics and worldviews. In From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents, Strange Maps illustrates how the abberations of the seemingly distant past invariably echo in the [...]
Pingback by Locating Obamaland, Cotton and Presidents, and Accurately Rendering American Divides « Hak Pak Sak — November 20, 2008 @ 3:53 pm
Fascinating Chart.
Always am amazed how much history has such a undercurrent effect in the present.
Grace
http://flourishingincrisis.wordpress.com/
Comment by flourishgrace — November 20, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
Couldn’t help but notice that this cotton/Obama map has a similar swoop pattern to the “ho belt” discussed in the Ludicrus Rap Map (#254). Race and culture in America is such an interesting subject to investigate.
Comment by Dave — November 20, 2008 @ 8:46 pm
Ann, your hatred of white people is an embarassment. Stop it.
Comment by Barack Obama — November 20, 2008 @ 10:14 pm
@ Tom:
Well, I *was* pleasantly surprised at the lack of anti-black racist statements in this thread. Thank you, Tom, for restoring my faith in humanity to its previous, low levels.
And incidentally, the man whose election inspired this thread was fathered by a man born in Africa who came to America. Sort of weakens your claim that blacks would all “still be stuck in Africa” had it not been for slavery, doesn’t it?
Comment by rhodent — November 20, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
I wonder if this “case study” would have been done if Obama wasn’t considered to be Black.
Well to offer a response to one comment of Obama identifying himself as Black I refer to so-called “One Drop Rule”. According to this rule in America if a person has one drop of African blood he/she is considered Black or at least not White.
I can’t say that you’re a racist, nor would I call you racially insensitive for the use of the title. I being Black have used racially motivated titles as a verbal neon sign to my articles too. I give you credit more than criticism for the article title or any suggested or even subliminal contextual annotations of the meaning of the title.
You have an interesting analysis. Could be on to something, but I would love to see the same map with previous election results to see if it is a realistic trend.
Perhaps the segment of the slave states illustrated voted the same way for Bush, Clinton or even as far back as Carter or Ford. That would be cool to see.
Comment by tim — November 21, 2008 @ 4:36 am
مشكور على اضافه موقعي
Comment by sveralhb — November 21, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
Tim
You ask an interesting question. It looks like few people and certainly few black people changed parties in 2008. A county map from 2004 looks virtually identical to one today.
You can check this website for all years.
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/
A mouseover on the left gives counties (note colors are reversed)
The pattern in the south goes back to at least 1984.
The Carter elections 1976 & 1980 are weird because he seems to win both white and black counties. Prior to that, I can’t quite tell if black southerners are less monolithically democratic or if there is a lot of voter suppression going on (though I was pretty sure – thanks to the voting rights act in 1965 – that black voter turnout was high in 1968 & 72).
Comment by Tom Bigbee — November 22, 2008 @ 1:21 am
What a fascinating connection..I am so pleased to have discovered this map blog…mesmirising!!
Comment by Catherine — November 22, 2008 @ 5:57 pm
[...] details: 330 – From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents « Strange Maps [...]
Pingback by 330 - From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents « Strange Maps | kozmom // — November 23, 2008 @ 3:22 pm
[...] 330 – From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin’ Presidents . . [...]
Pingback by Top Posts « WordPress.com — November 24, 2008 @ 12:04 am
karli (#97) – Jindal is from a Hindu, not Muslim, family.
Comment by Bob — November 24, 2008 @ 12:13 am
Interesting map, but it describes a phenomenon that goes back 44 years (to the 1964 presidential election). African Americans have voted about 90% Democratic ever since that election. Their turnout was a little higher than usual in 2008, but they otherwise displayed the same voting habits as usual. This pattern would not have been different had Hillary Clinton been nominated for the Democratic ticket.
Comment by Bob — November 24, 2008 @ 12:15 am
[...] worth a listen, especially when the subject is CS Lewis. An impressive correlation at strangemaps: comparing slavery to the recent vote. Robert Spencer reviews a book about Muhammad and Aisha. John Derbyshire on the incomparable Samuel [...]
Pingback by From Around the Web: Worth a Look « Vox Nova — November 24, 2008 @ 7:00 pm
[...] This map shows a strong correlation between 2008 presidential election results (red counties = McCain, blue = Obama) and cotton production in 1860 (each dot = 2,000 bales). [...]
Pingback by Ellis Hollow » How soil type affected the 2008 election map — November 30, 2008 @ 8:32 pm
@ Dan “The term ‘Slav’ is rooted in the middle latin word ‘Sclavus’ which is probably related to the word ’slovo’ meaning word or speech.”
Okay, you got some things right and some things wrong. Let me set you straight. Slav is the name of a linguistic group of Eastern Europe (current day Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Croats, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Serbs, Bulgars, etc.) The word Slav is correlated to either the proto-Slavic word ’slovo’ which means ‘word’ or ’slavo’ which means ‘brave’, and this is what the Slavs called themselves. During the Ottoman wars (and other wars) captured Slavic soldiers were sold into slavery to western nations. The name stuck, but the meaning changed. In France, Slavic slaves were called ‘esclave’. The Brits, who already had a word for slave – theow – inherited the word from the French, but used ’slave’ instead, which incidentally sounds more like the original ‘Slav’.
Comment by Dirt — December 2, 2008 @ 12:30 am
[...] vote (in conventional red and blue) with an 1860 map of cotton production (dots).(Via Strange Maps, h/t Charlotta Mellander)More discussion here.Tags: 2008 Presidential Election, cotton production, [...]
Pingback by Creative Class » Blog Archive » Path Dependence - Creative Class — December 2, 2008 @ 7:42 pm
i dont no about you people; especially a lot of the black people that thinks that oboma is black; i myself voted for obom and i am white’ i guess if we come to a conclusion that the only reason we voted is the color then ill have to say that i voted for the white part of oboma; i have herd comments made by some young black kids that the blacks are about to take over;;;that saddens me to here such sick stupid shit; in the slavory days did anybody ever here about a poor white man owning a slve”i here so much stupid crap about the south is full of racicist’’so frigging what”’so is the north’ there are blacks that hate whites and whites hate blacks ;;north south east west any dam way you look;; the main slave inport was new york city you dum ass”’can u figure out if thats north or south? give me a break;;;
Comment by c thomason — December 2, 2008 @ 10:26 pm
[...] Face of the South This is going to be a short post because I want you to the check out this blog post. It’s a super interesting post about the South and the role of African Americans. I [...]
Pingback by The Changing Face of the South « In Proximity — December 5, 2008 @ 1:02 pm
Albion’s Seed
http://isteve.blogspot.com/2008/11/mccain-scots-irish-champion.html
Comment by Pat Shuff — December 8, 2008 @ 12:56 pm
[...] 9, 2008 by brain Strange maps has an entry showing a strong correlation between 1860 cotton production in the South and those counties that went blue in the recent [...]
Pingback by A fascinating correlation « Lady with a Hat — December 9, 2008 @ 4:02 pm
wow. rich discussion!
@ ann: everybody is brave on the internet. where are you now?
i, too, was taken aback by her comments.
we accomplish nothing by letting hate fester in our hearts.
ignore the past?
no.
move forward…together?
yes.
(one more thing. i’m hoping that everybody understands the difference between causation and correlation. i.e.: murder rates are higher in summer. ice cream sales are higher in summer. but high ice cream sales don’t lead to more murders.)
Comment by mandy — December 10, 2008 @ 4:15 am
This is a very interesting map! Thank you for posting
Comment by carlos9900 — December 10, 2008 @ 1:03 pm
love is a gameble.
sex is a game.
boys do the fucking.
girls get the pain.
one night of pleasure.
nine months of pain.
three days in the hospital.
one baby to name.
Cherry Red Casino
Comment by Michael — December 10, 2008 @ 9:36 pm
[...] Strange Maps (via Creative Class, via Durham’s Bull) addthis_pub = ‘econtech’; addthis_options = [...]
Pingback by EconTech » Path-Dependent Presidential Election — December 11, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
Very interesting maps.
Not really correct to say that Obama share “no personal, historical bond with the issue of black slavery in the US,” since on his mother’s side he’s most likely related to slave owners, and he’s married to an American black woman descended from slaves. I’d say that’s a pretty personal, historical bond.
Comment by Zack — December 12, 2008 @ 10:10 pm
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights today considered the document presented by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) on how the provisions of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are being implemented in Kosovo which under Security Council resolution 1244 is being administered by UNMIK.
————-
kimrennin
alabama drug rehab
Comment by kimrennin — December 15, 2008 @ 5:39 am
[...] the first example on this blog of electoral cartography showing older cultural divides. Map #330 demonstrates a correlation in the Southern US states between areas of intense cotton production in [...]
Pingback by 348 - An Imperial Palimpsest on Poland’s Electoral Map « Strange Maps — December 15, 2008 @ 10:41 pm
[...] and Obama’s Candidacy A WordPress blog on strange maps gives us this gem that compares the major cotton-producing areas of the antebellum South to Obama’s 2008 [...]
Pingback by Cotton and Obama’s Candidacy « Politics of the Common Good — December 17, 2008 @ 3:57 am
I am concerned with the stat that 43% of white voters voted for Obama. Where did that figure come from? I went back to the voter registration form to double check and nowhere was I asked my race. WHO IS FEEDING US THESE STATS? We’ll always be divided as long as crap like that continues to be proliferated.
Comment by Natalia — December 19, 2008 @ 5:29 pm
[...] of cotton production in the 1860’s and counties in the Southern United States that voted for Obama in the 2008 election? Black Dots: sources of Cotton production in 1860/ Red and Blue represents winning party in [...]
Pingback by Old Habits Die Hard | Now and Then: an American Social History Project blog — December 22, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
Ann, honey, I can understand how tortured you are, what with your being a mixed race woman who is a child of a slavemaster AND a slave. There are support groups for children of rapists and child molesters. You could also talk to a therapist about it.
I can relate. In my own family I have suffered the anguish of knowing my 1600’s great … grandmother was raped by a Catholic and have had to wrestle with my Catholic resentment ever since the pain of that recognition blighted my soul.
For a while I tried to organize a Protestant reparations group to demand reparations from the Pope and Affirmative Action for Protestants, but eventually gave up in the face of overwhelming indifference.
Therapy is the only cure, honey. For some reason, other folks don’t seem to care about rapes committed hundreds of year ago.
Comment by Gladys P — December 23, 2008 @ 4:15 pm
[...] “From Pickin’ Cotton to Pickin Presidents” muestra la correlación entre los condados donde votaron por Obama (las partes azules) y las regiones donde se producía algodón (los puntitos negros.) [...]
Pingback by Ciudad Evita y otros mapas raros — December 24, 2008 @ 6:00 am
it is very cute!
it,s beautiful
Comment by اس ام اس عید نوروز پیامک عید نوروز — January 8, 2009 @ 5:40 am
“The top map dates from 2008, and shows the results of the recent presidential election, on county level. Blue counties voted for Obama, red ones for McCain (darker hues representing larger majorities). In spite of Obama’s national victory, and barring Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, all Southern states (i.e. all states formerly belonging to the Confederacy) went for McCain. The pattern of pro-Obama counties in those southern states corresponds strikingly with the cotton-picking areas of the 1860s, especially along the Louisiana-Mississippi and Mississippi-Alabama borders (the pattern corresponds less strikingly and deviates significantly elsewhere).
”
?
Comment by top — January 23, 2009 @ 9:21 pm
[...] the way, this has to be the strangest US election correlation I’ve seen so [...]
Pingback by Cotton Democrats « Draw Breath — February 1, 2009 @ 4:42 pm
[...] I’m reminded incidentally of the correlation between the counties that voted blue (i.e. Democrat) last November, and the cotton picking regions of mid-nineteenth century [...]
Pingback by Robert Sharp » Blog Archive » Social Cost of Slavery — February 2, 2009 @ 9:51 pm
Obama’s election as President signified a historical moment in our country. He ran an excellent campaign, but did himself a huge disservice by allowing Geithner to pass through. Though I do not doubt that Geithner’s intellect will serve the US well, I believe that he would have best been placed into a position as a consultant, as opposed to Treas Sec. Imagine how the meetings between Geithner and his IRS underlings are like …
Comment by Kevin Sandridge — March 4, 2009 @ 7:33 am
[...] Grenzen entlang verlief. Und auch Strangemaps selbst hat noch Beispiele auf Lager, z.B. wie die Baumwollproduktion im Süden der USA Wahlergebnisse [...]
Pingback by Wahlen in Polen 2007 | schonleben mittendrin: subjektiv, subversiv! — March 9, 2009 @ 10:38 am
[...] Cada ponto preto no mapa representa 2000 sacos de algodão. O polígonos em vermelho representam os condados onde McCain foi vencedor e os azuis os quais Obama foi vencedor (a variação na saturação quantifica as diferenças). Observa-se a seguinte correlação: nos condados onde a concetração de plantações de algodão eram maiores (maior densidade de pontos pretos), nesses condados Obama obteve a maioria dos votos. Ok, isso foi apenas uma descrição. A ligação destes dois mapas não é casual, mas sim correlacional. Isso está fortemente relacionado ao fato que as plantações de algodão em 1860 nos E.U.A. eram responsáveis por grande parte da massa de trabalho de origem escrava. Ou seja, maiores plantações, maior o número de escravos. Os reflexos dessa época podem ser observados nos resultados da eleições de 2008 para a região em análise. Nas regiões aonde os habitantes afro-americanos representam a maioria da população, Obama obteve a maioria dos votos. Aproximadamente nessas regiões era aonde se encontravam as maiores plantações de algodão, e consequëntemente onde habitam o maior número de escravos de origem africana. [Fonte] [...]
Pingback by Algodão e Obama | Cartotech Brasil — March 26, 2009 @ 3:47 am
this is a very interesting map and very interesting website i would reccomend it to somebody else
Comment by emily — April 7, 2009 @ 5:52 pm
Learn how search engine marketing, PPC management, conversion enhancement and web analytics tracking can boost your online profitability. Visit our website and harness the web with Alkemi.
Comment by Search Engine Optimisation — April 20, 2009 @ 11:37 am
Though I do not doubt that Geithner’s intellect will serve the US well, I believe that he would have best been placed into a position as a consultant, as opposed to Treas Sec. Imagine how the meetings between Geithner and his IRS underlings are like …
Comment by Home Design Directory for Home Improvements, Renovations and Interior Design — May 6, 2009 @ 6:34 pm
This is a very interesting map! Thank you for posting
Comment by Pari sportifs en ligne — May 14, 2009 @ 5:06 pm
nice and interesting maps
Comment by Investorsi — June 2, 2009 @ 8:32 am
No doubt, a similarly striking correlation between voting patterns and ethnic identification from 150 years ago could be drawn between an Irish (me) or a Jewish population map.
It’s 2009. The only people in the US who trumpet “race” are people who have no other resource to draw on.
Comment by Dr K — June 17, 2009 @ 10:56 pm
[...] un blog donde nos muestran mapas que difícilmente podremos ver en otros sitios, y a un maravilloso post donde nos muestran la imagen que ilustra este [...]
Pingback by La bitácora de Dianso — June 30, 2009 @ 10:10 am
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 5:29 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 7:53 am