During the industrial revolution in the american south,

most southern farmers had enslaved workers.

most plantations had fifty or more enslaved workers.

about a quarter of southerners had no enslaved workers.

about a quarter of southerners had enslaved workers.

D) about a quarter of Southerners had enslaved workers.

Not everyone in the South operated with slaves as their labor force. There were also smaller family farms and such.  But those who did hold slaves in operating plantations held large numbers of slaves, and so the institution of slavery was a gigantic part of the Southern economy.

they were byzantines