People and Events in African-American History
From Slavery to Sharecropping
From Slavery to Sharecropping
Slaves owned very little, but they dreamed that when the "day
of jubilee" came, they would earn some money, buy land and a
couple of mules, and build a house. During Reconstruction, stories
spread that the-government was-going to give Them "40 acres and
mule," but when southerners were granted pardons, their property
was restored.
A few African-Americans were fortunate enough to receive land
or buy it on very reasonable terms. General Rufus Saxton tried to
divide plantations into smaller units and give African-Americans the
opportunity to buy them, but the Treasury Department sold most of
~tto whites who had the cash to pay off back taxes. General Sher5~~Cltifu
man set aside land for African-Americans on the offshore islands,
and some of Jefferson Davis's slaves bought part of his Mississippi plantation.
The vast majority still worked for a white farmer. In the early days of Reconstruction, if the African-American
worker felt he was not being treated fairly under the terms of his contract with the employer and did not receive
justice in state court, he could appeal to the Freedmen's United States Courts presided over by a Freedmen's Bureau
agent. More often than not, the agent ruled in favor of the freedman.
The system used at first was a gang-labor method. Workers were sent in groups with a white supervisor on
horseback watching them. To the African-Americans, this seemed like slavery, and since landowners did not like
to pay wages anyway, new approaches were developed.
One was the sharecrop system. In it, the landowner provided a house, land, seed, fertilizer, and supplies, and
when the crop came in, landowner and "cropper" split the money. The cropper often owed a debt to the landlord
for food and other necessities. When the crop came in, that debt had to be repaid with interest. Croppers often got
nothing for their labor.
A tenant farmer put up everything except land, and for its use, he gave the owner money or part of the crop.
It was common for him to pay part in cash plus a third- of the crop.
The crop-lien system was also common. It was a business arrangement between the farmer and a merchant.
The merchant provided food, seed, and other supplies to the farmer in return for a lien (mortgage) on the crop.
When it was sold, the merchant was paid first, and whatever was left went to the farmer. Often, he ended up more
deeply in debt.
Laws were strict regarding the obligation of debtors; unless all debts were paid in full, the debtor must remain
on the land. Booker T. Washington said that sharecropping was as bad as slavery, and using debt to keep a man in
place robbed him of independence until he was lost and bewildered.
RESULTS: African-American hopes of economic independence were being crushed by a system that barely
stood above the Thirteenth Amendment's definition of slavery, as well as federal laws that made peonage (debt
slavery) legal.
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© Mark Twain Media, Inc., Publishers
54
and Events in African-American
History
From Slavery to Sharecropping
Date:
_
From Slavery to Sharecropping: Reinforcement
Have the class write a skit featuring a discussion between a landowner and a tenant farmer taking place after
the crop was sold.
Ask the class why laws were so strict on the payment of debt.
H~ would you compare sharecropping with slavery?
As:a landowner, write your opinion of croppers and tenants.
As a cropper, write your opinion of the landowner.
What rumor was "music to the ears" of freedmen?
Who set aside land for freedmen on offshore islands?
If they were not satisfied with the verdict in state court, where could freedmen go to appeal?
Why didn't African-Americans like the gang-labor approach?
What was the usual split between a cropper and landowner?
Why did croppers often end up with nothing?
After paying part of his rent in cash, how much did a tenant farmer usually have to give out of the crop?
Under the crop-lien system, with whom did the farmer sign the lien (mortgage)?
Why didn't croppers and others move away?
With what did Booker T. Washington compare cropping?
STANDARDS CORRELATIONS:
(Production, Distribution, & Consumption) Explain and illustrate how values and beliefs influence
economic decisions.
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How various Reconstruction plans succeeded or failed
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:llwww.digitalhistory.uh.eduireconstructionisection3/section3_intro.html
Slave Labor to Free Labor: Introduction," Digital History
org/itvs/homecoming/history l.html
(1866-1877) and Beyond," Public Broadcasting Service
.orgllibrary lindex.asp ?document=545
Acres and a Mule: Special. Field Order No. 15,'.'Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University
Twain Media, Inc., Publishers
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