U.S.News & World Report Tumblelog

What geology and the 2012 election have in common

Obama’s Secret Weapon In The South: Small, Dead, But Still Kickin’

“The part of the country possessing this thick, dark and naturally rich soil was, of course, the part of the South where the slaves were most profitable, and consequently they were taken there in the largest numbers.” After the Civil War, a lot of former slaves stayed on this land, and while many migrated North, their families are still there … In this 2000 census, you can see that the counties with the biggest populations of African-Americans still trace that Cretaceous shoreline. This, says marine biologist McClain, explains that odd stretch of Obama blue; it’s African-Americans sitting on old soil from ancient organisms that turned sunshine into fertilizer.