Солтүстік Каролина штатындағы Касуэлл округі

County in North Carolina, United States

Caswell County is a county in the U. S. state of North Carolina. It is located in the Piedmont Triad region of the state. At the 2020 census, the population was 22,736. Partially bordering the state of Virginia, the county was formed from Orange County in 1777 and named for Richard Caswell, the first governor of North Carolina. Other Caswell County communities include Blanch, Casville, Leasburg, Milton, Pelham, Prospect Hill, Providence, and Semora. The Dan River flows through a portion of the county. Hyco Lake is a popular recreational area and key water source. Indigenous residents were of Siouan groups, including the Occaneechi. In 1663 and 1665, Charles I of England gave all of what is now North Carolina and South Carolina (named for him) to eight of his noblemen, the Lords Proprietors. Caswell County was originally part of the land grant belonging to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon. After the initial settlements, the area experienced rapid population growth. The free settlers who lived in the county before 1800 were mostly of English, Scotch Irish, French Huguenot, and German descent. Enslaved Africans were brought to the area by slaveholders and slave trading agents involved in speculation. By 1800, enslaved persons accounted for nearly one third (32%) of Caswell County's population. The settlers first consisted mainly of yeoman farmers and planters. Middle class settlers arrived afterward in the 18th century and were called the "new families." Yeoman farmers accounted for more than half the settler population. Several had indentured servants or bound apprentices of mixed race. No matter their class distinction, planters were the most socioeconomically advantaged inhabitants. They traded commodities with other settlers and were involved in land speculation and the domestic slave trade. They founded mills, sold livestock, and grew profitable crops such as wheat, corn, and oats on farms or plantations. Until the early 1800s, tobacco was harvested mainly as a secondary crop by the settlers depending on changing market demand, pricing, soil exhaustion, and other variables. From the early 1760s until the early 1770s, it was common for local planters to receive credit loans from British owned mercantile companies in the province for the purpose of funding the expansion of agricultural production. The monies went toward purchases of additional land and enslaved labor. Such companies also supplied enslaved workers and consumer items to area planters and managed tobacco exports sent to Virginia warehouses. Their merchants offered good tobacco prices initially but eventually reduced them greatly, causing many planters to fall into substantial debt, which could not be repaid without selling land or enslaved people. Due to the American Revolutionary War, most of these debts were never repaid. After the war, the demand for tobacco rose when new markets were found without such middlemen. Not long after they arrived, the settlers to the area had been progressive in building homes, starting businesses, and establishing churches. Prominent planters promoted a culture of education that later saw the creation of private academies in the early 1800s. While the movement increased class tensions within communities, the settlers came together in support of the American Revolution. Lea's Chapel, a Methodist Episcopal church, was organized in 1779.

Caswell County was formed from a portion of Orange County, effective June 1, 1777. It was created so that governance could be more localized and efficient. The legislative act creating Caswell ordered its first court to be held at the homestead of Thomas Douglas and appointed commissioners to find a permanent location to build a county courthouse and prison. During the prelude to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781, Lord Cornwallis pursued General Nathanael Greene through Caswell County. Greene's retreat, called the "Race to the Dan," was a calculated ploy. His objective was to extend Cornwallis far beyond his supply base in Camden, South Carolina, so that his fighting power would be significantly diminished. Cornwallis and his troops marched through Camp Springs and Leasburg, which was the first county seat. They continued on to the Red House Church area of Semora. By the war's end in 1783, Caswell County had made significant contributions in personnel and materiel to the war effort. Little fighting took place locally. County residents renowned for their Revolutionary War service include Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Hal" Dixon, John Herndon Graves, Dr. Lancelot Johnston, and Starling Gunn. Usually skilled in a trade, they farmed in a manner similar to yeoman farmers but did not have equal rights. In 1786, a special state census ranked Caswell County as the second largest county with a population of 9,839. Halifax County ranked first with 489 more inhabitants.

In the early 1800s, Caswell County's wealthy landowners were moving away from diversified farming and accelerating toward tobacco as a single cash crop. This agricultural conversion considerably affected the growth of the enslaved population, which rose 54 percent from 1800 to 1810. Around 1830, the "Boom Era" began, which lasted until the American Civil War. During this period, the county saw the creation of new flour and lumber mills and experienced the furniture output of Thomas Day, a free Black businessman in Milton. A cotton factory, foundry, and silk company were also in operation. In Yanceyville, roads were improved and given names by 1841. The town became wealthy enough by 1852 to charter an independent bank, the Bank of Yanceyville, whose market capitalization ranked among the highest in the state. Slade perfected the curing method in 1856. The following year his farm harvested of bright leaf tobacco on 100 acres of land and the crop was sold in Lynchburg, Virginia, at an exorbitant price. Slade taught the flue curing technique to many farmers in the area and elsewhere. Bright leaf tobacco became popular with smokers and North Carolina growers gained a dominant position in the tobacco industry as a result. The tobacco economy, and the industries supported by it, enriched many locals. The lifestyle of many yeoman farmers changed into that of planters. By 1856, tobacco overshadowed all other forms of enterprise in Caswell County. Tobacco warehouses and manufacturing & processing plants dotted the skyline, with the largest centers located in Yanceyville and Milton. After the war, the county continued its economic dependence on tobacco and was averse to agricultural diversification. The Second Industrial Revolution in varying degrees passed it by. Other than a few tobacco mills, there was an absence of industry and no railroad. The county's population kept growing through the 1920s. To provide better public facilities, the Caswell County Board of Education initiated school improvement projects. During this time in 1926, The Caswell Messenger began publication. In 1937, the Yanceyville Rotary Club was founded and members successfully pioneered economic and community development projects. The economic upswing of the 1950s saw new businesses entering the area. This included the opening of a meatpacking operation in 1956 in the county's southwest corner. Between the mid 1950s and mid 1980s, the county also attracted textile mills to Yanceyville. Such growth enabled the local government to broaden its tax base and see increases in public revenue.

In May 1861, North Carolina with some reluctance joined the Confederacy, which by then was at war with the Union. Caswell County provided troops, clothing, food, and tobacco in support of the war effort. Companies A, C, and D of the North Carolina Thirteenth Regiment consisted almost entirely of county enlistments. The area's soldiers fought in every major Civil War battle and there were many casualties. It is unknown if any were able to find safe haven behind Union lines. In the spring of 1862, salt used for meat preservation was rationed, which was a statewide measure. As the war raged on, the county's inhabitants faced food shortages. Daily necessities were in short supply. Speculators benefitted while most remained in need. Due to the Emancipation Proclamation in January 1863, enslaved African Americans in Confederate territory were recognized as free individuals by the executive branch of the U. S. federal government. They gained military protection upon crossing into Union controlled areas or through the advance of federal troops. Many African Americans likely either fled or attempted to flee the area between 1863 and the war's end. Most remained confined behind Confederate lines until Union forces occupied much of the state during the Carolinas campaign in 1865.

After the Civil War during Reconstruction, the pattern of daily life in Caswell County dramatically changed. The previous plantation way of life had disappeared. Small farmers fell into deeper poverty. Abandoned land and eroded soil permeated the landscape. The area faced a decreased standard of living and insufficient public revenue for services that governments ordinarily provided. a large segment of residents characterized it as an effort by Radical Republicans to force Black suffrage upon them. A significant number began flocking to the Conservative Party, which was a coalition of the prewar Democratic Party and old line Whigs. African Americans in the area had experienced immense jubilation when informed of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Their freedom was then safeguarded by Union troops, the Freedmen's Bureau, and the protection of the Thirteenth Amendment. However, in 1866 restrictive state laws called "Black Codes" were passed in North Carolina by former Confederate legislators who had returned to power as Conservatives. Enacted to regain control over African Americans, these laws were nullified by congressional civil rights legislation later in 1866. In 1868 and 1869, the Republican controlled General Assembly ratified the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments respectively. Ensuring the right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, the Fifteenth Amendment became a part of the U. S. Constitution in February 1870. In that year's U. S. census, African Americans represented approximately 59 percent of Caswell County's population. Over a span of five years from 1865 to 1870, they had gained constitutional protection from slavery and voting rights. They could seek employment, use public accommodations, acquire land, and participate in the political process. In January 1868, thirteen African American delegates representing 19 majority Black counties attended the state's constitutional convention in Raleigh. They were North Carolina's first Black Caucus. Their members included a Republican legislator from Caswell County named Wilson Carey. At the convention, he spoke out against Conservative proposals to attract white immigrants to North Carolina. Carey felt the focus should instead be on African American North Carolinians who had built up the state. The 1868 constitutional convention passed resolutions that included the abolition of slavery, the adoption of universal male suffrage, the removal of property and religious qualifications for voting and office holding, and the establishment of a uniform public school system. Because the convention gave North Carolina a new constitution in 1868 that protected the rights of African Americans, the state was readmitted to the Union that same year on July 4 upon ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. When federal troops left the next year, ending Reconstruction, the stage was set for the passage of Jim Crow laws.

By the end of the 1960s, Caswell County's public schools were beginning to fully integrate. A decade and a half earlier in 1954, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. In a later decision by the Court in May 1955 known as Brown II, school districts were given the ambiguous order to desegregate "with all deliberate speed." Like many school boards in the South at the time, the Caswell County Board of Education interpreted the Court's ambiguity in a manner that served to delay, obstruct, and slow the process of racially integrating its schools. The Board of Education's resistance to integration had already been emboldened by North Carolina's passage of the Pupil Assignment Act in April 1955. The legislation gave county school boards full school placement authority. In response to these developments, fifteen local African American parents presented a petition to the school district in August 1956 calling for the abolition of segregation, which the board refused to consider. Undeterred, the parents organized protests that included the NAACP. A federal lawsuit was subsequently filed in December 1956 asking for the immediate desegregation of Caswell County and North Carolina schools. In August 1957, 43 local students, many of whom were plaintiffs via their parents in the federal court case, applied for admission to public schools that were closer to their homes than the segregated ones they had been assigned. The school board denied their applications and continued to reject them through 1962. In December 1961, U. S. District Court Judge Edwin M. Stanley ruled that two brothers, Charlie and Fred Saunders, could promptly attend Archibald Murphey Elementary School, a now closed formerly all white school near Milton. When the new semester began in January, however, they did not present themselves for enrollment. The Ku Klux Klan had sent a threatening letter to the Saunders family previously. According to an affidavit submitted by the children's father C. H. Saunders Sr., the KKK's threats caused him to miss a school board reassignment hearing ordered by the judge in August 1961 prior to his final judgment. Saunders also conveyed that he would be agreeable to transferring schools if his children's protection at Murphey Elementary could be assured. On January 22, 1963, sixteen African American schoolchildren enrolled in four of the county's previously all white schools. Several months later, Brown was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and served 90 days in jail. While awaiting trial, white men bombed his yard. His four children and the 12 others who integrated the county's schools were physically threatened and emotionally abused throughout the semester. Despite requests from the NAACP and concerned families, no police protection was provided. Furthermore, the Board of Education refused to arrange school bus transportation. Its "freedom of choice" plan put the onus of integration on individual African American students and parents, who had to opt to cross the color line themselves. The school district was not in full compliance with federal integration standards until 1969. In that year, the Caswell County Board of Education implemented a plan for complete desegregation after Judge Stanley ordered the school district in August 1968 to integrate starting in the 1969–1970 school year. The closed high school building's educational use was promptly reconfigured. The new integrated school was named N. L. Dillard Junior High School in honor of the former high school's principal. Integrated elementary schools were established based on zoning. Legislators from the county had considerable influence on state politics during the first half of the 19th century. Archibald D. Murphey has been called the "Father of Education" in North Carolina. Serving as a state senator, he proposed a publicly financed system of education in 1817. Murphey also made proposals regarding internal improvements and constitutional reform. Donna Edwards is a former U. S. congresswoman. Before entering Congress, she was the executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, which provides advocacy and legal support to battered women. She worked to pass the Violence Against Women Act of 1994. In 2015, Edwards and other members of Congress introduced the Restoring Education and Learning Act (REAL Act) to reinstate Pell Grants to prisoners.

Writers including Alex Haley and artists such as Maud Gatewood have commented on Caswell County's history in their work. The county was briefly referenced in Haley's 1977 television miniseries Roots. It was cited as the location of champion cock fighter Tom Moore's (Chuck Connors) plantation. When Gatewood designed the county seal in 1974, she added two large tobacco leaves as a symbol of the crop's long prominence in the area.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 428.71 square miles (1,110 km2), of which 425.37 square miles (1,102 km2) is land and 3.34 square miles (9 km2) (0.78%) is water. It is bordered by Person, Orange, Alamance, and Rockingham counties, and the state of Virginia. The Dan River flows through a part of the county. Hyco Lake is an important water source and popular recreational site. For a comprehensive overview of Caswell County's geography see When the Past Refused to Die: A History of Caswell County North Carolina 1777–1977, by William S. Powell (1977) at 1–22.

At the 2000 census, there were 23,501 people and an estimated 8,670 households and 6,398 families residing in the county. The population density was There were 9,601 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup of the county was 61.07% White, 36.52% African American, 1.77% Hispanic or Latino, 0.19% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.17% from other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. Out of the 8,670 households, 31.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.20% were married couples living together, 14.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.20% were non families. 23.20% of all households consisted of individuals living alone and 10.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.01. The age distribution of the county's population consisted of 23.20% under the age of 18, 7.70% from 18 to 24, 30.10% from 25 to 44, 26.00% from 45 to 64, and 13.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.30 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,018 and the median income for a family was $41,905. Males had a median income of $28,968 versus $22,339 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,470. About 10.90% of families and 14.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.30% of those under age 18 and 21.10% of those age 65 and over.

Interstate 40 and Interstate 85 are the closest interstate highways to the county, located 14 mile (23 km) south in Graham. When I 785 is completed, it will run through Caswell County near Pelham.

Danville station, located 13.9 mile (22 km) north of Yanceyville

Piedmont Community College's satellite campus in Caswell County is located in Yanceyville.

Walker, E. V. (1993). Caswell County Training School, 1933–1969: Relationships between Community and School. Harvard Educational Review, 63, 161–183.