Notes

Land and Labor in the South

Sharecropping was so important in the state's history that it is included in the bronze map at the Alabama Department of Archives and History.
The South was once the richest area in the United States, but by the spring of 1865, it was the poorest.

Most white men in the South were coming home from the Confederate Army. About 1.5 million African Americans were looking for lost family members as a result of the domestic slave trade. A government office called the Freedmen's Bureau was helping bring African American families back together. It was also providing freedmen with food, clothing, shelter, and jobs.

Everywhere in the South, plantation owners and freedmen alike faced the same problem. It was spring, and if the crops were not planted, it would soon be too late to do so — and there would be no food. Farm workers had no land to work. Landowners had no workers — and no money to pay them. What was to be done?

New systems of labor were born: tenant farming and sharecropping. These systems offered both a solution to problems and an opportunity for farmers. However, they also caused new problems — and extended slave-like treatment for some.

In this role-play adventure, you will make common cause with the sharecroppers of 1865 to 1866 and learn their history.
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Tenants and Sharecroppers
Former slaves had few options in the South. While the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery, convict labor was commonly used in the South. If found guilty of violating the laws, African Americans could essentially be returned to a state of slavery because convicts would be used to build roads and clean roadsides. Some former slaves who could not find jobs became petty criminals and when convicted were forced to work as convict laborers.

Few had money to buy their own farms. One way to get land to farm would be to become a tenant farmer. A tenant farmer would rent land from the landowner and use it to farm. If a tenant farmer had no money, he might promise the landowner part of his crop — sharecropping.

Tenant Farming

A tenant farmer in the South
Some tenant farming agreements were simply at the will of the landowner, but usually, the landowner and the tenant signed a contract. A tenant farmer normally needed to bring his own tools, plow, and farm animals, such as a mule. If you had no tools or animals, you could become a sharecropper.

Sharecropping
A sharecropping agreement was similar to a tenant contract, in that the sharecropper promised the landowner one half or two thirds of the crop in return for tenancy. Often, the landowner also supplied the tools required to do the job. In this contract, the landowner usually said what should be planted
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Cash Crops and Food Crops
The landowner decides what cash crop to plant. In this case, it's cotton, which takes a lot of work to grow and harvest. You also have some land on which to plant your food crops. Remember: Besides the cotton plants, you can only plant peas, pumpkins, and potatoes.

The image on this page shows just one possible sharecropping arrangement of crops, animals, and structures that would function efficiently. If you'd like to sketch your own arrangement, you may do so, or you can base your calculations off this image. Then, in the ledger on your study sheet, give yourself $1 for each cotton field planted. Subtract $1 for your garden. Subtract $1 for each animal (apart from the mules) that you have on your farm. Don't worry if your total is negative – you haven't sold your crop yet
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