 From 1930 to 1970, the population declined as many African Americans left this rural county and other parts of the South in the Great Migration to escape Jim Crow oppression and seek better jobs, especially in Northern industrial cities and on the West Coast, where the defense industry built up beginning during World War II.As of the census of 2000, there were 10,469 people, 4,485 households, and 3,157 families residing in the county.The population density was 21 people per square mile (8/km²).