U.S. Census Office, Map Showing Proportion of the Black to the Aggregate Population (1874)

This choropleth map shows the percentage of the Black population relative to the total population per square mile in the United States in 1870, with darker shading indicating areas with a higher proportion. The map reveals particularly high concentrations of Black people living in the southern states, with some areas exceeding 50 percent. This settlement pattern reflects the South’s history of slavery, which had been abolished only five years earlier at the end of the Civil War. This map was included in the first Statistical Atlas of the United States (1874), a compilation of data visualizations created under the direction of Francis A. Walker to present information collected from the 1870 Census in visual form.