Description This issue presents an overview of Georgia’s early land history and the processes that shaped the territory that would become Berrien County. It begins with the vast western land claims of pre-1795 Georgia and the infamous 1795 Yazoo land fraud, where millions of acres were illegally sold to land companies before the act was repealed under Senator James Jackson. The article then traces how federal intervention and the 1802 cession of western lands led to the formation of Alabama and...

Scope and Contents This issue examines the evolution of agriculture and cash-crop production in Berrien County from the 1800s through the late 20th century. It begins with early subsistence farms carved from the former Indian Territory, where families grew only what they needed and bartered small surpluses. By the mid-19th century, cotton had become the dominant cash crop, with both white and Black families contributing to its cultivation.After the Civil War, cotton production expanded rapidly but...