U.S. Census Office, Percentage of White and Black Population in Certain States at Each Census (1903)

This series of 100% stacked bar graphs, featured in the 1900 Statistical Atlas of the United States compiled under the direction of Henry Gannett, displays the percentage of the population in each former slaveholding state that was classified as White or Black at each census from 1790 to 1900. In the graphs, the Black population is shown in black, and the White population is shown in white. By 1900, Mississippi and Louisiana had the largest proportions of Black residents, with Black populations comprising 58.5 percent and 58.4 percent of their total populations, respectively. In many states, the percentage of the Black population declined between 1890 and 1900, including Virginia and West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas. During the same period, some states—such as Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas—experienced a decrease in the percentage of the White population.