Collin Lewis and Matt Fischer

1. Emancipation and Empire: Reconstructing the
Worldwide Web of Cotton Production in the Age of
the American Civil War
A Photo Essay
By Collin Lewis and Matt Fischer

2. 1860- A map representing the locations of the highest production of cotton. The
southern United States made up for sometimes over 90 percent of cotton consumption
used in countries like France and Europe. Prior to 1861, almost all of the cotton used in
the industry came from slave labor plantations in the American South.

3. 1895- A photograph of slaves picking cotton in a field, while a white overseer watches
from his horse. Slave labor was essential to the cotton industry, as the United States
made up a large percent of the hundreds of millions of pounds of cotton which made its
way around the world each year. Every person involved in the cotton industry relied on
slaves, who were essentially the only source of cotton picking labor available.

4. March 14th, 1862- A political cartoon published in the Richmond Daily Dispatch was
made to show English dependency and value of the United States' cash crop. The
depiction of the Englishmen worshipping “King Cotton” was meant to depict the reliance
on the Southern United States’ cotton export.

5. 1907- “King Cotton” a panoramic photo of a cotton plantation, published as a magazine
advertisement. “King Cotton” was used as a slogan to show the importance that U.S.
Cotton had in the world market. The slogan was used to show support of slave labor
plantations, establishing that cotton was too important of an industry to the United States
to be disbanded by the Civil War.

6. 1920- A group of African American workers pick cotton in a plantation field. After the
Civil War, many former slaves continued to work on plantations for little pay. In an
attempt to preserve the cotton industry of the United States, plantation owners would
sometimes keep their “workers" in slave-like conditions, however would pay them a
small amount of money in order to be considered a job.

7. This is a table that shows us British cotton imports from different countries around the world. If
shows us that right before the civil war, the U.S is clearly the dominant cotton producer.
However, after the civil war, it is very evident the U.S production goes way down because slavery
has been abolished. Also, other countries around the world have ramped up
production, particularly India.

8. This picture is designed to show what the conditions were like for African Americans under the
oppressive fetters of slavery before the civil war. Before the Industrial Revolution, all the
intensive, rigorous work done to produce cotton suitable for daily tasks was done by slaves.
They weren’t paid, given long, tiring hours, and treated awfully by white slave owners. The
Industrial Revolution changed the way cotton was mass produced with all the new cotton mills
made.

9. This is a picture of the cotton mills that became a trademark in the new age of cotton
production after the civil war. With the end of slavery also came the Industrial Revolution,
where machinery became a part of the workplace. With this advance in technology, the work
slaves did prior to the civil war was now able to be completed more efficiently.

10. This is a digital cartoon that sums up how cotton was used in America.
Cotton is shown here to be the primary crop that is used by a diverse
group in the United States. It shows African Americans doing the
manual labor to make and manufacture it for the white Americans to use
in their everyday life. It was a cycle that America adapted to for so
long, until the end of the civil war when the producers of cotton, or
slaves, were freed, and they needed to find a new manufacturer of
cotton.

11. This picture is a chart depicting the distribution of cotton production all around the world in
2010. Compared to where cotton was produced after the civil war in the Industrial Revolution
Era, cotton production today is much more spread out among nearly all the continents,
including all different countries in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and
Australia. Immediately after the Civil War, cotton was primarily produced in different parts of
Europe, Africa, and India.

12. Pictography
" Southern U.S. cotton picking ." Library of Congress Home. N.p., n.d. Web.
17 June 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012648381/>.
"King Cotton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 June 2013.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Cotton>.
., the honor of North-Carolina. May God defend the right! . .. " Causing the
Civil War | Teachinghistory.org ." Teachinghistory.org . N.p., n.d. Web. 17
June 2013. <http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/beyond-the-
textbook/23912>.
"The American Civil War: March 14, 1862: Cotton and Ironclads." The
American Civil War. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 June 2013. <http://www.civilwar-
online.com/2012/03/march-14-1862-cotton-and-ironclads.html>.

13. Pictography
"Cultural Landscape of Plantation--SLAVE TASKS." The George Washington University. N.p., n.d. Web.
17 June 2013. <http://www.gwu.edu/~folklife/bighouse/panel9.html>.
“Distribution of World Cotton Fibre Production.” Digital Chart. History of
Cotton: Wikipedia. Accessed on 17 June 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cotton.
John Gensor. “The Cotton Mill.” Photo. The Dawn of the Industrial Revolution in America: John
Gensor
Photography. Accessed on 17 June 2013. http://johngensorphotos.com/?tag=baltimore-and-
ohio-railroad
“Cotton Competition.” Digital Table. Useful Nineteenth Century Time Series Data. Accessed on 17
June
2013. http://facweb.furman.edu/~bensonlloyd/hst41/timeseries.htm
“Cotton is King.” Digital Cartoon. Studio Up! Cotton is King – Interactive. Accessed on 17 June 2013.
http://www.studioup.com/portfolio/?projects=cotton-is-king-interactive
“Slaves Picking Cotton.” Digital Cartoon. This Honorable Body: African American Legislatures in 19th
Century Tennessee. Accessed on 17 June 2013. http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/History
/blackhistory/