Terrell County, Georgia

Not to be confused with Terrell, Georgia.

Terrell County is a county located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,185.^[1] The county seat is Dawson.^[2] Terrell County is included in the Albany, GA metropolitan statistical area.

Terrell County
County
Terrell County Courthouse in Dawson
Location within the U.S. state of Georgia
Georgia's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 31°47′N 84°26′W
Country	United States
State	Georgia
Founded	February 16, 1856; 169 years ago (1856)
Named after	William Terrell
Seat	Dawson
Largest city	Dawson
Area
• Total	338 sq mi (880 km2)
• Land	335 sq mi (870 km2)
• Water	2.3 sq mi (6 km2)  0.7%
Population  (2020)
• Total	9,185
• Density	27/sq mi (10/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	2nd
Website	www.terrellcounty-ga.com

History

Formed from portions of Randolph and Lee Counties on February 16, 1856, by an act of the Georgia General Assembly, Terrell County is named for Dr. William Terrell (1778–1855) of Sparta, Georgia, who served in the Georgia General Assembly and the United States House of Representatives.^[3]

During the American Civil War, after Atlanta's capture by Union forces, a refugee settlement was established in Terrell County for civilians forced to flee the city. The Fosterville settlement, named after Georgia Quartermaster General Ira Roe Foster,^[4] was according to author Mary Elizabeth Massey in her 2001 history, the "most ambitious refugee project approved by the Georgia General Assembly" [during that period].^[5] On March 11, 1865, the Georgia General Assembly authorized General Foster to "continue to provide for maintenance of said exiles, or such of them as are unable by their labor to support themselves, or their families for the balance of the present year."^[5]

During the civil rights era of the 1960s, the local white minority resisted change, sometimes violently; it subsequently became known as "Terrible Terrell County".^[6] In 1958 the county refused to register a group of African-Americans including several teachers with Bachelors and master's degrees on the grounds that they couldn't read, and a college-educated marine who was refused registration on the grounds he could not write intelligibly.^[7][8] The case eventually reached the supreme court, and the county was ordered to allow them to register, but they did not immediately comply. In 1960, testimony showed that Black voters were given more tests, and more difficult tests, than White voters, and that illiterate Whites were allowed to vote, while well-educated Blacks were falsely determined to be illiterate. The county asserted that this was not discriminatory.^[9] In September 1962, an African-American church was burned down after it was used for voter registration meetings.^[10] (Note: Like other southern states, Georgia had disenfranchised most blacks at the turn of the century by rules raising barriers to voter registration; they were still excluded from the political system.) That month Prathia Hall delivered a speech at the site of the ruins, using the repeated phrase "I have a dream." Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. attended her speech; afterward, he also began to use that phrase, including in his noted "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.^[11]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 338 square miles (880 km²), of which 335 square miles (870 km²) is land and 2.3 square miles (6.0 km²) (0.7%) is water.^[12]

The western and southern two-thirds of Terrell County is located in the Ichawaynochaway Creek sub-basin of the ACF River Basin (Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin). The county's northeastern third is located in the Kinchafoonee-Muckalee sub-basin of the same larger ACF River Basin.^[13]

Major highways

• U.S. Route 82
• State Route 32
• State Route 41
• State Route 45
• State Route 49
• State Route 50
• State Route 55
• State Route 118
• State Route 520

Adjacent counties

• Webster County - north
• Sumter County - northeast
• Lee County - east
• Dougherty County - southeast
• Calhoun County - southwest
• Randolph County - west

Communities

City

• Dawson

Towns

• Bronwood
• Parrott
• Sasser

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1860	6,232		—
1870	9,053		45.3%
1880	10,451		15.4%
1890	14,503		38.8%
1900	19,023		31.2%
1910	22,003		15.7%
1920	19,601		−10.9%
1930	18,290		−6.7%
1940	16,675		−8.8%
1950	14,314		−14.2%
1960	12,742		−11.0%
1970	11,416		−10.4%
1980	12,017		5.3%
1990	10,653		−11.4%
2000	10,970		3.0%
2010	9,315		−15.1%
2020	9,185		−1.4%
2023 (est.)	8,718	[14]	−5.1%
U.S. Decennial Census[15] 1790-1880[16] 1890-1910[17] 1920-1930[18] 1930-1940[19] 1940-1950[20] 1960-1980[21] 1980-2000[22] 2010[1]

2020 census

Terrell County, Georgia – Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.

Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)	Pop 2000[23]	Pop 2010[24]	Pop 2020[25]	% 2000	% 2010	% 2020
White alone (NH)	4,101	3,366	3,189	37.38%	36.14%	34.72%
Black or African American alone (NH)	6,614	5,683	5,540	60.29%	61.01%	60.32%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	22	14	11	0.20%	0.15%	0.12%
Asian alone (NH)	31	29	57	0.28%	0.31%	0.62%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)	3	0	1	0.03%	0.00%	0.01%
Other race alone (NH)	4	3	11	0.04%	0.03%	0.12%
Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)	59	63	199	0.54%	0.68%	2.17%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	136	157	177	1.24%	1.69%	1.93%
Total	10,970	9,315	9,185	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 9,185 people, 3,399 households, and 2,348 families residing in the county.

Politics

Terrell County has consistently been a Democratic county since the 1992 presidential election, though the margins have historically been close. In 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt received 100% of all votes cast in Terrell County.

United States presidential election results for Terrell County, Georgia^[26]

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	2,075	47.80%	2,253	51.90%	13	0.30%
2020	2,004	45.38%	2,376	53.80%	36	0.82%
2016	1,874	44.58%	2,267	53.92%	63	1.50%
2012	1,834	41.62%	2,544	57.73%	29	0.66%
2008	1,890	42.75%	2,501	56.57%	30	0.68%
2004	1,859	48.58%	1,951	50.98%	17	0.44%
2000	1,504	48.31%	1,584	50.88%	25	0.80%
1996	1,111	40.33%	1,509	54.77%	135	4.90%
1992	1,143	32.90%	1,942	55.90%	389	11.20%
1988	1,517	52.22%	1,383	47.61%	5	0.17%
1984	1,744	52.18%	1,598	47.82%	0	0.00%
1980	1,378	40.29%	2,010	58.77%	32	0.94%
1976	1,168	33.22%	2,348	66.78%	0	0.00%
1972	2,057	74.99%	686	25.01%	0	0.00%
1968	545	15.06%	1,276	35.26%	1,798	49.68%
1964	1,921	77.15%	569	22.85%	0	0.00%
1960	285	17.41%	1,352	82.59%	0	0.00%
1956	203	13.51%	1,300	86.49%	0	0.00%
1952	369	21.16%	1,375	78.84%	0	0.00%
1948	100	10.52%	608	63.93%	243	25.55%
1944	49	2.90%	1,639	97.10%	0	0.00%
1940	0	0.00%	1,040	100.00%	0	0.00%
1936	61	4.36%	1,336	95.50%	2	0.14%
1932	24	2.34%	1,000	97.37%	3	0.29%
1928	116	11.45%	897	88.55%	0	0.00%
1924	45	6.47%	630	90.52%	21	3.02%
1920	48	8.76%	500	91.24%	0	0.00%
1916	13	1.78%	677	92.74%	40	5.48%
1912	12	2.23%	500	93.11%	25	4.66%

Notable people

• Benjamin J. Davis Jr., Harvard Law School graduate and elected to New York City Council. Defended Angelo Herndon in Georgia against insurrection charges for organizing a union, resulting in a U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled against Georgia's insurrection law as unconstitutional.^[27]
• Walter Washington, activist and politician, elected as the first black mayor of Washington, D.C.^[27] after Congress granted home rule to the city.
• Otis Redding, rhythm and blues singer; one of the first crossover artists appealing to both young blacks and whites in the post-World War II era.
• Cole Swindell, is an American country music singer and songwriter who attended Terrell Academy in Dawson, Georgia.

See also

• State of Georgia portal

• Dawson Five
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Terrell County, Georgia
• USS Terrell County (LST-1157)
• List of counties in Georgia