History
Prehistoric and nineteenth-century history has been preserved in some of Early County's attractions. It is the site of the Kolomoki Mounds, a park preserving major earthworks built by indigenous peoples of the Woodland culture more than 1700 years ago, from 350 CE to 600 CE. This is one of the largest mound complexes in the United States and the largest in Georgia; it includes burial and ceremonial mounds. The siting of the mounds expresses the ancient people's cosmology, as mounds are aligned with the sun at the spring equinox and summer solstice.
The county area was long territory of the historic Creek Indian peoples of the Southeast, particularly along the Chattahoochee River. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, European-American settlers began to encroach on this territory, pushing the Muscogee out during Indian Removal in the 1830s. The Muscogee were forced to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.
This area was developed by European-American settlers and their African-American enslaved workers for cotton plantations. Agriculture was critical to the economy into the 20th century. The Cohelee Creek Bridge in the county is the southernmost covered bridge still standing. One of the last wooden flagpoles from the American Civil War era is located at the historic courthouse in downtown Blakely.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative, in the period from 1877 to 1950, Early County had 24 documented lynchings of African Americans, the second-highest total in the state after the more densely populated Fulton County. [4] [5] Most were committed around the turn of the 20th century, in the period of Jim Crow conditions and suppression of black voting. This was still a largely agricultural area, and some disputes arose from confrontations between black sharecroppers or tenant farmers and white landowners, particularly at times to settle accounts. Another, Sidney Grist, was lynched on December 31, 1896, for "political activity". [5]
Among these cases were five African-American men lynched by whites in less than a month in the summer of 1899: three on July 23, one on July 25 (all reportedly for rape and robbery), and one on August 3 for attempted rape. [6] Black men were frequently identified as suspects in such cases and lynched before any trial took place; further investigations have sometimes revealed consensual sex or other persons having committed the crime. A mass lynching took place in the county on December 30, 1915, when seven black men were lynched, allegedly as suspects in a murder. [6]
Demographics
Historical population| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|
| 1820 | 768 | | — |
|---|
| 1830 | 2,051 | | 167.1% |
|---|
| 1840 | 5,444 | | 165.4% |
|---|
| 1850 | 7,246 | | 33.1% |
|---|
| 1860 | 6,149 | | −15.1% |
|---|
| 1870 | 6,998 | | 13.8% |
|---|
| 1880 | 7,611 | | 8.8% |
|---|
| 1890 | 9,792 | | 28.7% |
|---|
| 1900 | 14,828 | | 51.4% |
|---|
| 1910 | 18,122 | | 22.2% |
|---|
| 1920 | 18,983 | | 4.8% |
|---|
| 1930 | 18,273 | | −3.7% |
|---|
| 1940 | 18,679 | | 2.2% |
|---|
| 1950 | 17,413 | | −6.8% |
|---|
| 1960 | 13,151 | | −24.5% |
|---|
| 1970 | 12,682 | | −3.6% |
|---|
| 1980 | 13,158 | | 3.8% |
|---|
| 1990 | 11,854 | | −9.9% |
|---|
| 2000 | 12,354 | | 4.2% |
|---|
| 2010 | 11,008 | | −10.9% |
|---|
| 2020 | 10,854 | | −1.4% |
|---|
| 2024 (est.) | 10,444 | [9] | −3.8% |
|---|
|
Early 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 2000 [20] | Pop 2010 [18] | Pop 2020 [19] | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|
| White alone (NH) | 6,159 | 5,250 | 4,813 | 49.85% | 47.69% | 44.34% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 5,901 | 5,441 | 5,534 | 47.77% | 49.43% | 50.99% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 23 | 34 | 31 | 0.19% | 0.34% | 0.29% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 23 | 37 | 47 | 0.19% | 0.34% | 0.43% |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0.06% | 0.02% | 0.00% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 5 | 5 | 11 | 0.04% | 0.05% | 0.10% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | 84 | 68 | 232 | 0.68% | 0.62% | 2.14% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 152 | 171 | 186 | 1.23% | 1.55% | 1.71% |
| Total | 12,354 | 11,008 | 10,854 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 10,854, 4,312 households, and 2,659 families. [21]
The median age was 42.5 years, with 23.4% of residents under the age of 18 and 20.3% 65 years of age or older; for every 100 females there were 89.9 males and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 86.4 males. 0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas. [22]
The racial makeup of the county was 44.8% White, 51.2% Black or African American, 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% 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 1.7% of the population. [23]
There were 4,312 households in the county, of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 38.1% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. [21]
There were 4,918 housing units, of which 12.3% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 65.9% were owner-occupied and 34.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.2%. [21]
Politics
Despite being a majority-black county, Early County leans Republican. As recently as 2012, the county voted Democratic for president, backing Barack Obama over Mitt Romney. However, Early County voted for GOP nominee Donald Trump thrice consecutively since then, including even as Joe Biden defeated Trump statewide in 2020. In the 2022 midterms, Governor Brian Kemp carried it by 19.5 points, while Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger carried it by over 21%, and in 2024, Trump won the county by double-digits over Kamala Harris.
For elections to the United States House of Representatives, Early County is part of Georgia's 2nd congressional district, currently represented by Sanford Bishop. For elections to the Georgia State Senate, Early County is part of District 12. [26] For elections to the Georgia House of Representatives, Early County is part of District 154. [27]
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