Editing Randolph County, Georgia (section)

==History==
Randolph County was created on December 20, 1828, and named after the [[Virginia]] planter and politician [[John Randolph of Roanoke|John Randolph]].<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/r.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030917130018/http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/r.pdf |archive-date=September 17, 2003 |url-status=live| title=Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins | publisher=Winship Press | author=Krakow, Kenneth K. | year=1975 | location=Macon, GA | pages=185 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref>

He was honored originally as the namesake of present-day [[Jasper County, Georgia|Jasper County]] but, because of his opposition to U.S. entry into the [[War of 1812]], the [[Georgia General Assembly]] changed the county name on December 10, 1812. Eventually, John Randolph's [[reputation]] was restored. In 1828, the General Assembly organized the current Randolph County in the west of the state.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/coundate.htm|title=GeorgiaInfo.com – Georgia Counties in Order of Creation|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218012756/http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/coundate.htm|archive-date=February 18, 2008}}</ref> Most of the historic tribe of [[Muscogee people]] (Creek) were forced from the area to [[Indian Territory]] during [[Indian Removal]].

[[Lumpkin, Georgia]] was the original county seat. It was within the portion of Randolph County that was reassigned in 1830 to form [[Stewart County, Georgia|Stewart County]], and Lumpkin was designated as the latter's county seat.

This area is considered part of the [[Black Belt (geological formation)|Black Belt]], upland areas across the [[Deep South]] that were developed in the 19th century as plantations after invention of the [[cotton gin]] made processing of short-staple cotton profitable. [[Slavery in the United States|Enslaved Blacks]] made up the vast majority of workers on the plantations, with hundreds of thousands being transported through the domestic slave trade from the coast and Upper South. After the American Civil War, many [[freedmen]] and their descendants continued to work on plantations in the county and region, comprising the majority of county population until the 1930s.

Like other areas of the rural South, workers in Randolph County lost jobs due to mechanization, invasion of the boll weevil, and the decline in agriculture. In the 20th century, many black families moved from the county to cities in the North and Midwest for work and less oppressive conditions during the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]]. However, the rural counties of the Black Belt continue to have substantial African-American populations. Agriculture has been industrialized and depends on relatively few workers.

By mid April 2020 Randolph County (including nearby [[Albany, Georgia|Albany]]) hosted the third highest density of [[COVID-19]] [[outbreak]]s in the nation, and as of May 2020, next to the [[New York Metro Area]], and [[Boston, Massachusetts]] and metro area. {{citation needed|date=May 2020}} Health department records showed an infection rate of 1.9 for every 100 citizens in Randolph County.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage&action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage | title= Coronavirus US cases by County | work=New York Times | date=April 14, 2020}}</ref> The Randolph county outbreak was largely composed of an outbreak in a nursing home and may have had connections to the [[Procter & Gamble]] toilet paper factory in [[Albany, Georgia]], which was deemed an essential service.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/p-g-toilet-paper-factory-keeps-delivering-as-coronavirus-strikes-its-town-11586707201 | title= P&G Toilet Paper Factory Keeps Delivering as Coronavirus Strikes Its Town | work=Wall Street Journal | date=April 16, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://wfxl.com/news/local/new-data-shows-randolph-county-with-new-covid-19-ranking | title= New data shows Randolph County with new COVID-19 ranking | work=WFXL | date=April 15, 2020}}</ref>

This county also has a history of poverty and has recently been ranked as the 2nd poorest county in the entire United States, behind [[Issaquena County, Mississippi]]. The county poverty rate is 26.7%, while the median household income is $25,425.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 1, 2023 |title=QuickFacts {{!}} Randolph County, Georgia |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/randolphcountygeorgia/PST045223 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726035232/https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/randolphcountygeorgia/PST045223#expand |archive-date=July 26, 2024 |access-date=January 19, 2025 |website=U.S. Census Bureau}}</ref>