Dallas County, Alabama

Dallas County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census, its population was 43,820. The county seat is Selma. Its name is in honor of United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander J. Dallas, who served 1814-1816.Dallas County comprises the Selma, AL Micropolitan Statistical Area.HistoryDallas County was created by the Alabama territorial legislature on February 9, 1818, from Montgomery County. This was a portion of the Creek cession of lands to the US government of August 9, 1814. The Creek were known as one of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast. The county was named for U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander J. Dallas of Pennsylvania.Dallas County is located in what has become known as the Black Belt region of the west-central portion of the state. The name referred to its fertile soil, and the area was largely developed for cotton plantations, worked first by enslaved African Americans. After emancipation, many of the African Americans who stayed in the area worked as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. The county was majority black.