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Farming For A Better Future, page 200

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(Above) School Census Card for the Brown Family with a Child at Cave Spring School, 1930 (Lawrence County Archives, Moulton, Alabama) also appears to have closed. If either school was included in the school census records in the 1950s, then there were very few students attending. More likely, the students were sent to school in Moulton. The USGS topographic maps confirm that the school closed sometime in the 1950s. Cave Spring School is labeled on the 1936 topographic map, but not on the 1960 map. Courtland The town and census district of Courtland is majority African American, but it is also strictly segregated north and south by the railroad. Households north of this line are almost exclusively African American, while households south of the railroad are over half white families. The census records from 1900 to 1940 clearly illustrate this division. African American households on the south side decline from 50% in 1900 to 36% in 1940, while households of color on the north side remained above 90% through 1940. By that year, the division weakened some. The north side of Courtland was 80% households of color, while only 36% of households on the south side were of color. Despite having a majority African American community, the percentage of African American-owned farms in the Courtland area was never more than 7% of the entire number of households. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 18 African American farming landowners in the Courtland district - 10 on the north side and eight on the south (Right) 1936 USGS/TVA Topographic Map of Courtland with Major Known Plantations, the City Cemetery, and First School Noted, Courtland, Alabama Quadrangle KEY City Cemetery Indicates a Historical - Non-Extant Resource - (4728)    

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