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Terrell County, Georgia

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Not to be confused with Terrell, Georgia.

Template:Infobox U.S. county

Terrell County is a county located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,185.[1] The county seat is Dawson.[2] Terrell County is included in the Albany, Georgia metropolitan area.

History

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Formed from portions of Randolph and Lee counties on February 16, 1856, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, Terrell County is named for William Terrell of Sparta, Georgia, who served in the Georgia General Assembly and the United States House of Representatives.[3]

During the American Civil War, after Atlanta's capture by Union forces, a 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,[4] 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].[5] 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."[5]

During the civil rights era of the 1960s, the local white minority resisted change, sometimes violently; it subsequently became known as "Terrible Terrell County".[6] In 1958 the county refused to register a group of African-Americans including several teachers with bachelor's 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.[7][8] The case eventually reached the U.S. 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 ones, 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.[9] In September 1962, an African-American church was burned down after it was used for voter registration meetings.[10] (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.[11]

Geography

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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 338 square miles (880 km2), of which 335 square miles (870 km2) is land and 2.3 square miles (6.0 km2) (0.7%) is water.[12]

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-Muckalee sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin.[13]

Major highways

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Adjacent counties

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Communities

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City

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Towns

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Demographics

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Template:US Census population

Racial and ethnic composition

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Terrell County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition
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.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) Pop 1980[14] Pop 1990[15] Pop 2000[16] Pop 2010[17] Pop 2020[18] % 1980 % 1990 % 2000 % 2010 % 2020
White alone (NH) 4,692 4,241 4,101 3,366 3,189 39.04% 39.81% 37.38% 36.14% 34.72%
Black or African American alone (NH) 7,151 6,356 6,614 5,683 5,540 59.51% 59.66% 60.29% 61.01% 60.32%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 5 8 22 14 11 0.04% 0.08% 0.20% 0.15% 0.12%
Asian alone (NH) 5 8 31 29 57 0.04% 0.08% 0.28% 0.31% 0.62%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) x [19] x [20] 3 0 1 x x 0.03% 0.00% 0.01%
Other race alone (NH) 3 0 4 3 11 0.02% 0.00% 0.04% 0.03% 0.12%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) x [21] x [22] 59 63 199 x x 0.54% 0.68% 2.17%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 161 40 136 157 177 1.34% 0.38% 1.24% 1.69% 1.93%
Total 12,017 10,653 10,970 9,315 9,185 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

2020 census

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As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 9,185, 3,664 households, and 2,348 families residing there. The median age was 44.1 years, 21.6% of residents were under the age of 18, 21.5% were 65 years of age or older, and for every 100 females there were 94.8 males (90.3 males for every 100 females age 18 and over). 0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.[23][24][25]

The racial makeup of the county was 35.2% White, 60.6% Black or African American, 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.6% from some other race, and 2.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 1.9% of the population.[25]

There were 3,664 households in the county, of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 37.8% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[24]

There were 4,243 housing units, of which 13.6% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 60.3% were owner-occupied and 39.7% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.9%.[24]

Politics

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As of the 2020s, Terrell County is a marginally Democratic leaning county, voting 52% for Kamala Harris in 2024. As a county with a majority African-American population, voters in Terrell County prefer Democratic candidates counties in presidential elections. Terrell County has consistently been a Democratic county since the 1992 presidential election, though the margins have historically been close. In 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt received 100% of all votes cast in Terrell County.

For elections to the United States House of Representatives, Terrell County is part of Georgia's 2nd congressional district, currently represented by Sanford Bishop. For elections to the Georgia State Senate, Terrell County is part of District 12.[26] For elections to the Georgia House of Representatives, Terrell County is part of District 151.[27]

United States presidential election results for Terrell County, Georgia[28]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
1912 12 2.23% 500 93.11% 25 4.66%
1916 13 1.78% 677 92.74% 40 5.48%
1920 48 8.76% 500 91.24% 0 0.00%
1924 45 6.47% 630 90.52% 21 3.02%
1928 116 11.45% 897 88.55% 0 0.00%
1932 24 2.34% 1,000 97.37% 3 0.29%
1936 61 4.36% 1,336 95.50% 2 0.14%
1940 0 0.00% 1,040 100.00% 0 0.00%
1944 49 2.90% 1,639 97.10% 0 0.00%
1948 100 10.52% 608 63.93% 243 25.55%
1952 369 21.16% 1,375 78.84% 0 0.00%
1956 203 13.51% 1,300 86.49% 0 0.00%
1960 285 17.41% 1,352 82.59% 0 0.00%
1964 1,921 77.15% 569 22.85% 0 0.00%
"text-align:center;" Template:Party shading/American Independent |1968 545 15.06% 1,276 35.26% 1,798 49.68%
1972 2,057 74.99% 686 25.01% 0 0.00%
1976 1,168 33.22% 2,348 66.78% 0 0.00%
1980 1,378 40.29% 2,010 58.77% 32 0.94%
1984 1,744 52.18% 1,598 47.82% 0 0.00%
1988 1,517 52.22% 1,383 47.61% 5 0.17%
1992 1,143 32.90% 1,942 55.90% 389 11.20%
1996 1,111 40.33% 1,509 54.77% 135 4.90%
2000 1,504 48.31% 1,584 50.88% 25 0.80%
2004 1,859 48.58% 1,951 50.98% 17 0.44%
2008 1,890 42.75% 2,501 56.57% 30 0.68%
2012 1,834 41.62% 2,544 57.73% 29 0.66%
2016 1,874 44.58% 2,267 53.92% 63 1.50%
2020 2,004 45.38% 2,376 53.80% 36 0.82%
2024 2,075 47.80% 2,253 51.90% 13 0.30%
2016 1 33.33% 1 33.33% 1 33.33%


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Education

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Public education is provided by the Terrell County School District.

Notable people

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See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "U. S. Census Bureau". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on December 18, 2021. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. ↑ Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 224. ISBN 0-915430-00-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 17, 2003.
  4. ↑ Lisa Tendrich Frank (2008). Women in the American Civil War. ABC-CLIO. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-85109-600-8.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Mary Elizabeth Massey (2001). Refugee Life in the Confederacy. Louisiana State University Press. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-8071-2688-2.
  6. ↑ Wicker, Tom (August 14, 1977). "Still 'Terrible Terrell'". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ "Terrell County Georgia Civil Rights Act vote register". The Macon Telegraph. September 5, 1958. p. 1.
  8. ↑ "High Court revives Terrell voting suit". The Atlanta Constitution. March 1960. p. 1.
  9. ↑ "Vote testing said unfair". The Macon Telegraph. June 29, 1960. p. 1.
  10. ↑ "Welcome to the Civil Rights Digital Library". crdl.usg.edu. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  11. ↑ Holsaert, Faith et al. Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC. University of Illinois Press, 2010, p. 180.
  12. ↑ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission Interactive Mapping Experience". Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Archived from the original on October 3, 2018. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  14. ↑ "1980 Census of Population - General Social and Economic Characteristics - Georgia - Table 58 - Race by Sex: 1980 and Table 59 - Persons by Spanish Origin, Race, and Sex: 1980" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. p. 12-52. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 18, 2026 – via Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ "1990 Census of Population - General Population Characteristics - Georgia: Table 6 - Race and Hispanic Origin" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. p. 15-65. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 1, 2025 – via Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ "P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Terrell County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau.
  17. ↑ "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Terrell County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau.
  18. ↑ "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Terrell County, Georgia". United States Census Bureau.
  19. ↑ included in the Asian category in the 1980 Census
  20. ↑ included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census
  21. ↑ not an option in the 1980 Census
  22. ↑ not an option in the 1990 Census
  23. ↑ "2020 Decennial Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics (DHC)". United States Census Bureau. 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 "2020 Decennial Census Demographic Profile (DP1)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "2020 Decennial Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171)". United States Census Bureau. 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  26. ↑ "Georgia General Assembly". www.legis.ga.gov. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
  27. ↑ "Georgia General Assembly". www.legis.ga.gov. Retrieved November 28, 2025.
  28. ↑ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  29. ↑ "2022 Senate Election (Official Returns)". Commonwealth of Georgia by county. November 5, 2022. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 "An Overview of the Brazier Case", Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project, Emory University, accessed April 6, 2016
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Template:Geographic Location Template:Terrell County, Georgia Template:Georgia (U.S. state) Coordinates: 31°47′N 84°26′W / 31.78°N 84.44°W / 31.78; -84.44

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