Northampton County, North Carolina: History
The area was first organized under English colonial authority as the Albemarle Precinct. In 1729 part of Albemarle was split off to form Bertie Precinct. In 1739 all former precincts became counties. Northampton County was formed from part of Bertie County in 1741.
It was named for James Compton, 5th Earl of Northampton. In 1759 parts of Northampton County, Bertie County, and Chowan County were combined to form Hertford County.
In 1959, the county went to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the use of a literacy test as a requirement to vote. In Lassiter v. Northampton County Board of Elections, the court held that, provided the tests were applied equally to all races and were not "merely a device to make racial discrimination easy," they were allowable. Congress subsequently prohibited use of such tests under the National Voting Rights Act of 1965.