- Slavery
- Early
- 1850 and 1860 censuses
- DeKalb County
- General area only
Slavery in DeKalb County, 1850 and 1860
In 1850 DeKalb, which still included Atlanta, had 14,328 people, of whom 2,924 were enslaved and 32 were free people of color. In 1860, after Fulton split off, DeKalb had 7,806 people, 2,000 of them enslaved (about one in four).
The record
The 1850 census counted 11,372 white residents in DeKalb, 32 free people of color and 2,924 enslaved people (Table I). Decatur itself had 744 people, 252 of them enslaved. In 1860 the county counted 5,798 white residents, 8 free people of color and 2,000 enslaved people (1,769 listed as black and 231 as mulatto; Table 2). Lithonia's 1850 count showed 40 of 106 household heads holding 168 people in slavery (Lithonia nomination), the Smith farm held 11 to 19 people at a time (Atlanta History Center), and Stone Mountain village's historical society counts about 290 enslaved people in the antebellum village.
Today: County-wide statistic; see the Tullie Smith farmhouse, Lithonia and Stone Mountain items.