black belt
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Black Belt,
term applied to several areas of Mississippi and Alabama, the heart of the Old South, which are characterized by black soil and excellent cotton-growing conditions. The Black Belt area was historically important as the nation's main cotton producer in the mid-1800s. Soil depletion, erosion, the boll weevil, and economic conditions combined to eliminate cotton from the region. Livestock, peanuts, and soybeans have become the area's chief crops.The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™ Copyright © 2013, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/
black belt
1. Martial Arts
a. a black belt worn by an instructor or expert competitor in the dan grades, usually from first to fifth dan
b. a person entitled to wear this
2. the. a region of the southern US extending from Georgia across central Alabama and Mississippi, in which the population contains a large number of Blacks: also noted for its fertile black soil
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005