Hancock County, Georgia

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox U.S. county

File:Thomas Cheely House, County Road S-1098, Shoals vicinity (Hancock County, Georgia).jpg

Thomas Cheely House, ca. 1825

Hancock County is a county located in the East Central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,735.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The county seat is Sparta.<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> The county was created on December 17, 1793, and named for John Hancock, a Founding Father of the American Revolution.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

Before the Civil War, Hancock County was developed for cotton plantations, as international demand was high for the commodity. The land was developed and the cotton cultivated and processed by thousands of enslaved African Americans. This area is classified as part of the Black Belt of the United States, primarily due to its fertile soil. It was later also associated with the slave society. Enslaved persons made up 61% of the total county population in the 1850 Census.<ref name="1850CensusGA">Template:Cite web</ref> Unusually for such a plantation-dominated society, the county's representatives at the Georgia Secession Convention, who were overwhelmingly white and Democratic, voted against secession in 1861.<ref name="GAEncyclopedia">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

But the secession conventions were dominated by men who voted for separation, and Georgia soon seceded and entered the war.

After the war, the freed black population predominated by number in the county for decades. After emancipation and granting of citizenship and the franchise, most freedmen joined the Republican Party, which they credited with gaining their freedom. Conservative white Democrats resisted political domination by blacks, although they were outnumbered. In the later years of Reconstruction, whites used violence, intimidation and fraud to suppress black voting. In 1908 the white-dominated legislature passed an amendment that effectively disenfranchised most black voters and many poor whites ones.

Contemporary voting issues

According to the 2010 census<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> estimate, the racial makeup of the county seat of Sparta was 84% African American, 15% White, 0.50% from two or more races, 0.30% Asian, and 0.10% Native American. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.70% of the population.

Since the late 20th century, most African Americans support the Democratic Party and conservative whites support the Republican Party.

In August 2015, the majority-white Hancock County Board of Elections initiated an effort to purge voters from the rolls. They directed deputy sheriffs to the homes of more than 180 black people residing in Sparta (these constituted some 20% of the city's total registered voters) to inform them they would lose their voting rights unless they appeared in court to prove their residency. A total of 53 voters were removed the voting rolls, but a federal judge overturned the Board's actions. It was asserted that these actions were racially based.<ref name="VoterPurgeNYTimes">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2021, the African-American elections superintendent for the City of Sparta was referred to the Georgia Secretary of State's Office for prosecution for allegedly imposing illegal requirements for candidates in the 2017 municipal election.<ref>"Voting violations cases sent to prosecutors, including one in Hancock County", WRDW, February 19, 2021</ref>

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (1.4%) is water.<ref name="GR1">Template:Cite web</ref>

The western portion of Hancock County, which is defined by a line running southeast from White Plains to the intersection of State Route 22 and Springfield Road, then running southwest along State Route 22, is located in the Upper Oconee River sub-basin of the Altamaha River basin. The southern portion of the county, defined by a triangle made of State Route 22 and State Route 15, with Sparta at its apex, is located in the Lower Oconee River sub-basin of the same Altamaha River basin. The northeastern portion of Hancock County is located in the Upper Ogeechee River sub-basin of the Ogeechee River basin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Major highways

No Interstate Highway

Adjacent counties

Taliaferro County - north
Warren County - northeast
Glascock County - east
Washington County - southeast
Baldwin County - southwest
Putnam County - west
Greene County - northwest

Communities

City

Sparta (county seat)

Unincorporated communities

Demographics

Template:US Census population

**Hancock County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition**
Template:Nobold
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 2000<ref name=2000CensusP004>Template:Cite web</ref>	Pop 2010<ref name=2010CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Partial<ref name=2020CensusP2>Template:Cite web</ref>	% 2000	% 2010	Template:Partial
White alone (NH)	2,141	2,212	2,413	21.25%	23.46%	27.62%
Black or African American alone (NH)	7,820	6,959	6,025	77.61%	73.80%	68.98%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	16	21	23	0.16%	0.22%	0.26%
Asian alone (NH)	9	47	37	0.09%	0.50%	0.42%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)	0	1	1	0.00%	0.01%	0.01%
Other race alone (NH)	2	0	10	0.02%	0.00%	0.11%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)	34	50	163	0.34%	0.53%	1.87%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	54	139	63	0.54%	1.47%	0.72%
Total	10,076	9,429	8,735	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 8,735 people, 2,974 households, and 1,755 families residing in the county.

Politics

Hancock County has been one of the most consistently Democratic counties in the entire nation since the Civil War. But the composition of the party voters and policies they support have undergone major changes since the late twentieth century, switching from whites to African Americans.

The majority of county voters have voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since 1852 except that of 1972, when George McGovern lost every county in Georgia. McGovern did perform better here than elsewhere in the state, losing by only 93 votes. Apart from Richard Nixon in that election, Barry Goldwater in 1964 was one of only two Republicans since at least 1912 to gain 30 percent of the county's vote.<ref>Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election statistics 1920-1964, pp. 97, 100, 103, 106, 109 Template:ISBN</ref> That year, most of the county's African-American majority was still largely disenfranchised and could not vote at all. The conservative white minority favored Goldwater because its traditional Democratic loyalties had frayed. In 2024, Donald Trump also managed to break 30% of the vote, the strongest showing for a Republican since 1972.

In 1980 Hancock County gave "favorite son" candidate Jimmy Carter his second highest vote share in the nation.<ref>Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; 1980 Presidential Election Statistics</ref> In 1984 it supported Walter Mondale, who won more than 76.6 percent of Hancock County ballots, making it his fourth-best county outside the District of Columbia. He was otherwise within 3,819 votes of losing all fifty states.<ref>Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; 1984 Presidential Election Statistics</ref>

Notable people

James Abercrombie, former United States Representative from Alabama
Amanda America Dickson, noted African-American heiress and socialite
Harvey Grant, professional basketball player
Horace Grant, professional basketball player
William Henry Harrison, Georgia state legislator
Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson, professional boxer
Biddy Mason, nurse and entrepreneur, co-founder of First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles
Hiram Runnels, former Governor of Mississippi
William Terrell, former United States Representative

References

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:Commons category-inline

New Georgia Encyclopedia. Hancock County
Hancock County historical marker
Powelton Baptist Church historical marker

Template:Geographic Location

Template:Hancock County, Georgia Template:Central Savannah River Area Template:Georgia (U.S. state) Template:Authority control Template:Coord