Abstract
An exploratory research project has examined the relationship between land tenure and well-being in a rural, predominantly Afro-American, forested county in the USA. Poverty in Alabama's Black-Belt endemic, expecially among Afro-Americans. The question explores is the relationship between the spatial concentration of Afro-Americans and the well-being of the Afro-American population. This relationship is explored at the sub-county level in Perry County which has a 67% Afro-American population and over 1416 Afro-American landowners, of whom 238 have been identified as owning properties listed in the Plat (propery parcel) maps. The analysis was done at the census block-group (sub-county) level. Analysis of Census 2000 block-group data on income, employment and poverty rates shows that areas with higher concentations of Afro-Americans landownership are more likely to have Afro-American populations with higher well-being. The research findings provide some insight into the theoretical, methodological and data requirements for a geographically expanded study of forestry practices, land tenure and well-being issues, at sub-county level.
Keywords
Spatial analysis,
sub-county level,
poverty,
Afro-American
Citation
Fraser, Rory F.; Gyawali, Buddhi R. 2005. Blacks in space: land tenure and well-being in Perry County, Alabama. Small-scale Forest Economics, Management and Policy. 4(1):21-33
