Map of Slave Distribution in the Southern States, 1860

This is a version of a map I am using for a paper I am writing about the Jackson Prairie Region. This map uses a color gradient to represent population proportions of slaves per county in the southeastern United States. It was one of the first maps ever to use a gradient in this way. It is said that Abraham Lincoln really admired this map. The map actually appears in a portrait of Lincoln. I first read about it here.

The point I am making with this map is that Jackson Prairie Region prairie patches were sparse and patchy compared to the Black Prairie Belt. The Black Prairie Belt has a place in our cultural history and is even visible on this map.