Editing Howard County, Missouri (section)

==History==
Located on the north bank of the Missouri River, Howard County was settled primarily from the [[Upper South]]ern states of [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]] and [[Virginia]]. The migrants brought [[slaves]] and slaveholding traditions with them, and cultivated hemp and tobacco, crops of Middle Tennessee. Howard was one of several counties settled mainly by Southerners along the [[Missouri River]] in the center of the state. Because of this, this area became known as [[Little Dixie (Missouri)|Little Dixie]], and Howard County was at its heart.<ref>[http://www.missouridivision-scv.org/littledixie.htm The Story of Little Dixie, Missouri, Missouri Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717050109/http://www.missouridivision-scv.org/littledixie.htm |date=July 17, 2012 }}, accessed June 3, 2008</ref> Following the 1848 revolutions in the German nations, many German immigrants also came to this region, developing farms.

Due to the reliance on slave labor, by 1860 African-American slaves composed at least 25 percent of the county's population.<ref>T. J. Stiles, ''Jesse James: The Last Rebel of the Civil War'', New York: Vintage Books, 2003, pp.10-11</ref> Given their backgrounds and cultural affiliations, many Howard County residents supported the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] during the Civil War. Ethnic German immigrants and descendants tended to support the Union.

After the end of [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]], whites enforced [[Jim Crow]] laws and racial segregation in the county to maintain white supremacy. In the most violent period, at the turn of the 20th century, five African Americans were [[Lynching in the United States|lynched]] in Howard County from 1891 to 1914: Olli Truxton, Frank Embree, Thomas Hayden, Arthur McNeal, and Dallas Shields.<ref>{{cite book |title=Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889—1918 | publisher=NAACP |year=1919 | pages=80–81}}</ref> Howard County tied with [[Pike County, Missouri|Pike County]] for the highest rate of lynchings in the state.<ref name="lynching">[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf ''Lynching in America''/ ''Supplement: Lynchings by County, 3rd edition''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf |date=October 23, 2017 }}, Montgomery, Alabama: Equal Justice Initiative, 2015, p. 7</ref>

The county continued to be developed for agriculture and is still largely rural. However, Howard County has lost population since its peak in 1880. The mechanization of farming reduced the demand for labor, and many workers left for jobs in the cities and less oppressive societies. By 2000 African Americans in the county had declined to less than seven percent of the total. In the early 21st century, nearly one-third of the residents identify as being of German ancestry, reflecting the wave of mid-19th century immigration.