Editing Terrell County, Georgia

{{Short description|County in Georgia, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox U.S. county
 | county               = Terrell County
 | state                = Georgia
 | seal                 = 
 | founded year         = {{start date and age|1856}}
 | founded date         = February 16
 | seat wl              = Dawson
 | largest city wl      = Dawson
 | area_total_sq_mi     = 338
 | area_land_sq_mi      = 335
 | area_water_sq_mi     = 2.3
 | area percentage      = 0.7%
 | census yr            = 2020
 | pop                  = 9185
 | density_sq_mi        = 27
 | time zone            = Eastern
 | footnotes            = 
 | web                  = www.terrellcounty-ga.com/
 | named for            = [[William Terrell]]
 | district             = 2nd
 | ex image             = Terrell County Courthouse, Georgia.JPG
 | ex image cap         = Terrell County Courthouse in Dawson
}}

'''Terrell County''' is a [[County (United States)|county]] located in the [[Southwest Georgia|southwestern portion]] of the [[U.S. state]] of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. As of the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]], the population was 9,185.<ref name="QF">{{cite web |title=U. S. Census Bureau |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=0500000US13273&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211218221507/https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=0500000US13273&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2 |archive-date=December 18, 2021 |access-date=October 26, 2022 |publisher=United States Census Bureau }}</ref> The [[county seat]] is [[Dawson, Georgia|Dawson]].<ref name="GR6">{{cite web|url=http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx|access-date=June 7, 2011|title=Find a County|publisher=National Association of Counties}}</ref> Terrell County is included in the [[Albany, Georgia|Albany]], GA [[Albany, Georgia metropolitan area|metropolitan statistical area]].

==History==
Formed from portions of [[Randolph County, Georgia|Randolph]] and [[Lee County, Georgia|Lee]] Counties on February 16, 1856, by an act of the [[Georgia General Assembly]], Terrell County is named for [[William Terrell|Dr. William Terrell]] (1778–1855) of [[Sparta, Georgia|Sparta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], who served in the [[Georgia General Assembly]] and the [[United States House of Representatives]].<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/t.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030917143007/http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/t.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=224 | isbn=0-915430-00-2}}</ref>

During the [[American Civil War]], after Atlanta's capture by Union forces, a [[Refugee camp|refugee settlement]] was established in Terrell County for civilians forced to flee the city. The ''Fosterville'' settlement, named after Georgia [[Quartermaster General]] [[Ira Roe Foster]],<ref name="Frank2008">{{cite book|author=Lisa Tendrich Frank|title=Women in the American Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X2GeBUmW_MgC&pg=PA113|year=2008|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-600-8|page=113}}</ref> was according to author Mary Elizabeth Massey in her 2001 history, the "most ambitious refugee project approved by the Georgia General Assembly" [during that period].<ref name="Fosterville">{{cite book|author=Mary Elizabeth Massey|title=Refugee Life in the Confederacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmpHqxu0_1YC&pg=PA246|year=2001|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=978-0-8071-2688-2|pages=246}}</ref> On March 11, 1865, the [[Georgia General Assembly]] authorized General Foster to "continue to provide for maintenance of said exiles, or such of them as are unable by their labor to support themselves, or their families for the balance of the present year."<ref name="Fosterville" />

During the civil rights era of the 1960s, the local white minority resisted change, sometimes violently; it subsequently became known as "Terrible Terrell County".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/14/archives/still-terrible-terrell.html|title = Still 'Terrible Terrell'|newspaper = The New York Times|date = August 14, 1977|last1 = Wicker|first1 = Tom}}</ref> In 1958 the county refused to register a group of African-Americans including several teachers with Bachelors and master's degrees on the grounds that they couldn't read, and a college-educated marine who was refused registration on the grounds he could not write intelligibly.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111592020/terrell-county-georgia-civil-rights-act/ | title=Terrell County Georgia Civil Rights Act vote register | newspaper=The Macon Telegraph | date=September 5, 1958 | page=1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111592055/high-court-revives-terrell-voting-suit/ | title=High Court revives Terrell voting suit | newspaper=The Atlanta Constitution | date=March 1960 | page=1 }}</ref> The case eventually reached the supreme court, and the county was ordered to allow them to register, but they did not immediately comply. In 1960, testimony showed that Black voters were given more tests, and more difficult tests, than White voters, and that illiterate Whites were allowed to vote, while well-educated Blacks were falsely determined to be illiterate. The county asserted that this was not discriminatory.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/111592147/vote-testing-said-unfair/ | title=Vote testing said unfair | newspaper=The Macon Telegraph | date=June 29, 1960 | page=1 }}</ref> In September 1962, an African-American church was burned down after it was used for voter registration meetings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://crdl.usg.edu/export/html/ugabma/walb/crdl_ugabma_walb_walb00067.html?Welcome|title=Welcome to the Civil Rights Digital Library|website=crdl.usg.edu|language=en|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref> (Note: Like other southern states, Georgia had disenfranchised most blacks at the turn of the century by rules raising barriers to voter registration; they were still excluded from the political system.) That month [[Prathia Hall]] delivered a speech at the site of the ruins, using the repeated phrase "I have a dream." Rev. [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] attended her speech; afterward, he also began to use that phrase, including in his noted "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech in 1963 at the [[Lincoln Memorial]] in Washington, DC.<ref>Holsaert, Faith et al. ''Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC''. University of Illinois Press, 2010, p. 180.</ref>

==Geography==
According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]], the county has a total area of {{convert|338|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|335|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|2.3|sqmi}} (0.7%) is water.<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=April 23, 2011|date=February 12, 2011|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref>

The western and southern two-thirds of Terrell County is located in the [[Ichawaynochaway Creek]] sub-basin of the [[ACF River Basin]] (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The county's northeastern third is located in the [[Kinchafoonee Creek|Kinchafoonee]]-[[Muckalee Creek|Muckalee]] sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gaswcc.org/maps/ |title=Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission Interactive Mapping Experience |publisher=Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission |access-date=November 24, 2015 |archive-date=October 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003004639/http://www.gaswcc.org/maps/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Major highways===
{{div col}}
* [[File:US 82.svg|20px]] [[U.S. Route 82 in Georgia|U.S. Route 82]]
* [[File:Georgia 32.svg|20px]] [[Georgia State Route 32|State Route 32]]
* [[File:Georgia 41.svg|20px]] [[Georgia State Route 41|State Route 41]]
* [[File:Georgia 45.svg|20px]] [[Georgia State Route 45|State Route 45]]
* [[File:Georgia 49.svg|20px]] [[Georgia State Route 49|State Route 49]]
* [[File:Georgia 50.svg|20px]] [[Georgia State Route 50|State Route 50]]
* [[File:Georgia 55.svg|20px]] [[Georgia State Route 55|State Route 55]]
* [[File:Georgia 118.svg|23px]] [[Georgia State Route 118|State Route 118]]
* [[File:Georgia 520.svg|23px]] [[Georgia State Route 520|State Route 520]]
{{div col end}}

===Adjacent counties===
* [[Webster County, Georgia|Webster County]] - north
* [[Sumter County, Georgia|Sumter County]] - northeast
* [[Lee County, Georgia|Lee County]] - east
* [[Dougherty County, Georgia|Dougherty County]] - southeast
* [[Calhoun County, Georgia|Calhoun County]] - southwest
* [[Randolph County, Georgia|Randolph County]] - west

==Communities==

===City===
* [[Dawson, Georgia|Dawson]]

===Towns===
* [[Bronwood, Georgia|Bronwood]]
* [[Parrott, Georgia|Parrott]]
* [[Sasser, Georgia|Sasser]]

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1860= 6232
|1870= 9053
|1880= 10451
|1890= 14503
|1900= 19023
|1910= 22003
|1920= 19601
|1930= 18290
|1940= 16675
|1950= 14314
|1960= 12742
|1970= 11416
|1980= 12017
|1990= 10653
|2000= 10970
|2010= 9315
|2020= 9185
|estyear=2023
|estimate=8718
|estref=<ref name="USCensusEst2023">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/data/tables.html|title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=March 31, 2024}}</ref>
|align-fn=center
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade.html|title=Decennial Census of Population and Housing by Decades|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=}}</ref><br>1790-1880<ref name=1880CensusGACty>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1880 Census Population by Counties 1790-1800 |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1880|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1880/vol-01-population/1880_v1-08.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|page=}}</ref> 1890-1910<ref name=1910CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1910 Census of Population - Georgia  |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1910|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1910/abstract/supplement-ga.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|page=}}</ref><br> 1920-1930<ref name=1930CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1930 Census of Population - Georgia  |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1930|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/03815512v1ch04.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=|page=}}</ref> 1930-1940<ref name=1940CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1940 Census of Population - Georgia  |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1940|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1940/population-volume-1/33973538v1ch04.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref><br> 1940-1950<ref name=1950CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1950 Census of Population - Georgia - |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1950|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1950/population-volume-2/37779083v2p11ch2.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> 1960-1980<ref name=1980CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 1980 Census of Population - Number of Inhabitants - Georgia  |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 1980|url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1980a_gaABC-01.pdf|accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref><br> 1980-2000<ref name=2000CensusGA>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 2000 Census of Population - Population and Housing Unit Counts - Georgia  |publisher=United States Census Bureau|date= 2000|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2003/dec/phc-3-12.pdf |accessdate=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> 2010<ref name="QF"/>
}}

===2020 census===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+'''Terrell County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition'''<br><small>{{nobold|''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.''}}</small>
!Race / Ethnicity <small>(''NH = Non-Hispanic'')</small>
!Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>{{Cite web|title=P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Terrell County, Georgia |url=https://data.census.gov/table?g=050XX00US13273&tid=DECENNIALSF12000.P004|website=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date= }}</ref>
!Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>{{Cite web|title=P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Terrell County, Georgia |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=p2&g=050XX00US13273&tid=DECENNIALPL2010.P2|website=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date= }}</ref>
!{{partial|Pop 2020}}<ref name=2020CensusP2>{{Cite web|title=P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Terrell County, Georgia |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=p2&g=050XX00US13273&tid=DECENNIALPL2020.P2|website=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date= }}</ref>
!% 2000
!% 2010
!{{partial|% 2020}}
|-
|[[Non-Hispanic or Latino whites|White]] alone (NH)
|4,101
|3,366
|style='background: #ffffe6; |3,189
|37.38%
|36.14%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |34.72%
|-
|[[Non-Hispanic or Latino African Americans|Black or African American]] alone (NH)
|6,614
|5,683
|style='background: #ffffe6; |5,540
|60.29%
|61.01%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |60.32%
|-
|[[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] or [[Alaska Native]] alone (NH)
|22
|14
|style='background: #ffffe6; |11
|0.20%
|0.15%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.12%
|-
|[[Asian Americans|Asian]] alone (NH)
|31
|29
|style='background: #ffffe6; |57
|0.28%
|0.31%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.62%
|-
|[[Native Hawaiian]] or [[Pacific Islander Americans|Pacific Islander]] alone (NH)
|3
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1
|0.03%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.01%
|-
|[[Race and ethnicity in the United States census|Other race]] alone (NH)
|4
|3
|style='background: #ffffe6; |11
|0.04%
|0.03%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.12%
|-
|[[Multiracial Americans|Mixed race or Multiracial]] (NH)
|59
|63
|style='background: #ffffe6; |199
|0.54%
|0.68%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.17%
|-
|[[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]] (any race)
|136
|157
|style='background: #ffffe6; |177
|1.24%
|1.69%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.93%
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''10,970'''
|'''9,315'''
|style='background: #ffffe6; |'''9,185'''
|'''100.00%'''
|'''100.00%'''
|style='background: #ffffe6; |'''100.00%'''
|}

As of the [[2020 United States census]], there were 9,185 people, 3,399 households, and 2,348 families residing in the county.

==Politics==
Terrell County has consistently been a Democratic county since the [[1992 United States presidential election|1992 presidential election]], though the margins have historically been close. In 1940, [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] received 100% of all votes cast in Terrell County.
{{PresHead|place=Terrell County, Georgia|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 22, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|2,075|2,253|13|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|2,004|2,376|36|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|1,874|2,267|63|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|1,834|2,544|29|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|1,890|2,501|30|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|1,859|1,951|17|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|1,504|1,584|25|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|1,111|1,509|135|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|1,143|1,942|389|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|1,517|1,383|5|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|1,744|1,598|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|1,378|2,010|32|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|1,168|2,348|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|2,057|686|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|545|1,276|1,798|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|1,921|569|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|285|1,352|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|203|1,300|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|369|1,375|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|100|608|243|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|49|1,639|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|0|1,040|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|61|1,336|2|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|24|1,000|3|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|116|897|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|45|630|21|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|48|500|0|Georgia}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|13|677|40|Georgia}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|12|500|25|Georgia}}

==Notable people==
* [[Benjamin J. Davis Jr.]], [[Harvard Law School]] graduate and elected to New York City Council. Defended [[Angelo Herndon]] in Georgia against insurrection charges for organizing a union, resulting in a U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled against Georgia's insurrection law as unconstitutional.<ref name="emory">[https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/emorycoldcases/the-james-brazier-case/2/ "An Overview of the Brazier Case"], Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project, Emory University, accessed April 6, 2016</ref>
* [[Walter Washington]], activist and politician, elected as the first black mayor of [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref name="emory" /> after Congress granted home rule to the city.
* [[Otis Redding]], rhythm and blues singer; one of the first crossover artists appealing to both young blacks and whites in the post-[[World War II]] era.
* [[Cole Swindell]], is an American country music singer and songwriter who attended Terrell Academy in Dawson, Georgia.

==See also==
{{Portal|State of Georgia}}
* [[Dawson Five]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Terrell County, Georgia]]
* [[USS Terrell County (LST-1157)|USS ''Terrell County'' (LST-1157)]]
*[[List of counties in Georgia]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718231932/http://www.terrellcounty.georgia.gov/ terrellcounty.georgia.gov]
* [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1267 The New Georgia Encyclopedia Terrell County entry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060307045953/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1267 |date=March 7, 2006 }}

{{Geographic Location
|Centre    = Terrell County, Georgia
|North     = [[Webster County, Georgia|Webster County]]
|Northeast = [[Sumter County, Georgia|Sumter County]]
|East      = [[Lee County, Georgia|Lee County]]
|Southeast = [[Dougherty County, Georgia|Dougherty County]]
|South     =
|Southwest = [[Calhoun County, Georgia|Calhoun County]]
|West      = [[Randolph County, Georgia|Randolph County]]
|Northwest =
}}
{{Terrell County, Georgia}}
{{Georgia (U.S. state)}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Coord|31.78|-84.44|display=title|type:adm2nd_region:US-GA_source:UScensus1990}}

[[Category:Terrell County, Georgia| ]]
[[Category:1856 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Georgia (U.S. state) counties]]
[[Category:Albany metropolitan area, Georgia]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1856]]
[[Category:Black Belt (U.S. region)]]
[[Category:Majority-minority counties in Georgia]]