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Farming For A Better Future, page 152

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201 Little Zion The community of Little Zion is south of the town of Rogersville in the eastern half of Lauderdale County. The majority of the African American community is located on a wide peninsula created from the Tennessee and Little Elk rivers. While the overall population of the Rogersville census district declined between 1900 and 1940, the percentage of African American households and landowning farmers increased. In 1900, 27 percent of Rogersville households were African American, increasing to 47 percent in 1930. In 1940, only a third of the population were families of color. Rogersville is one of the strictly segregated districts in North Alabama, which is apparent as early as 1920 when the census divides Rogersville north and south (Above) 1936 USGS Topographic Map of Little Zion School and Church, Thorntontown, Alabama (Middle) 1952 USGS Topographic Map of Little Zion Church and Cemetery, Thorntontown, Alabama (Right) 1974 USGS Topographic Map of Little Zion Cemetery, Thorntontown, Alabama by the highway. Only one family of color lived on the north side in 1920 and 1930. By 1940, there are six households of color enumerated on the north side; however, they do not live very far from the south side, more likely just on the other side of the road. Besides the church, cemetery, and school in Little Zion, there are several African American community (Below) Excerpt of 1940 Census Record Showing Frank Simmons Owning a Farm (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com) (Bottom) Excerpt of 1920 Census Record Showing Arnetha King Owning a Farm (National Archives and Records Administration via Ancestry.com) ■ COMMUNITIES CEMETERIES CHURCHES B PLANTATIONS B SCHOOLS - (4680)    

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