Black Belt helped spawn The Black Panthers

USA TODAY has the story.

Although (Lowndes County, Alabama was) 80 percent black, no black person had successfully registered to vote there for more than 60 years due to the violent reaction of white landowners, Woodham writes. The LCFO, a local independent political party, registered black voters and gave them an option to the Alabama Democratic Party.
The group chose a crouching black panther as its symbol.