This document provides information about sharecropping in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including: 1) Sharecropping replaced slavery as the main labor system in the Southern US after the Civil War. Sharecroppers farmed land owned by landlords in exchange for a share of the crop. 2) The system often resulted in debt peonage as sharecroppers struggled to earn enough to support their families and pay off debts, trapping many in long-term poverty. 3) By the early 20th century, the majority of African American and white farmers in the South were tenant farmers or sharecroppers. The system contributed to lasting poverty in the South for generations.

1. U.S. History Bell Ringer To what extent do you think your family’s economic level affects who you are and your future?

3. Today’s Theme and Central Question How do we live? What replaced slavery as the labor system for working farms? What were the long term consequences of this new system?

5. Food for family for the year: Flour $25 Bacon & Meat $65 Milk $30 Beans $25 Lard $30 Coffee $15 Sugar $10 Total $200

6. Clothing and shoes for family - $50

7. Wheel of Life Because life is full of surprises! 1- Children sick: Doctor and medicine -$25 2- Fence repairs: -$15 3- New roof for home: -$50 4- New child: -$25 for doctor 5- Broken tools: -$15 6- Extra time for side job: +$25

8. The average harvest is 100 bales of cotton, but how much you actually harvest depends on the weather. Roll to see what this year’s harvest will be. 1- Perfect weather!: +20% on harvest 2- Hail storm: -25% on harvest 3- Average year: 0% on harvest 4- Drought: -20% on harvest 5- Insects infestation: -10% on harvest 6- Flooding: -15% on harvest

9. The average market price per bale of cotton is $10, but how much you actually get paid depends on the current market. Roll to see what this year’s market price is. 1- Great crop year: -20% on price 2- Good crop year: -10% on price 3 and 4- Average year: 0% on price 5- Poor crop year: +10% on price 6- Very bad year: +20% on price

10. Landlord expenses: Share of seed $50 Feeding mule team $75 Share of fertilizer $50 Gin fee for cotton $75 Total owed - $250

11. In Mississippi by 1900 85% of all African American farmers were sharecroppers By 1935 nearly half of white farmers and 77% of black farmers in the whole country were tenant farmers.

12. "We'd get $12 per bale and we had to pick hard in order to have money to buy food during that season," said Mississippi State Senator David Jordan, whose parents were sharecroppers. "If we had a rainy week where we couldn't pick at all, then we would have no money. We would have to go get food and substances on credit." "Some came out in the hole five or six times and they never did get out of the hole," Jordan said. "So what happened, they caught the midnight train or bus and headed to Chicago and they never found 'em, 'cause that was the only way to get out of that miserable stuation.”

13. Closing Question Please respond in your journal to the following closing question: What do you think the long term consequences of the sharecropping labor system were? Can you think of any possible effects that are still with us today over a hundred years later?

14. 12 States with highest poverty in 2009 Mississippi Arkansas Kentucky New Mexico West Virginia Louisiana District of Columbia Alabama Tennessee Texas South Carolina Georgia

15. Bibliography Slide 2- http://reginaldkcarter.com/images/Graph%205.pdf Slide 4- http://www.uwec.edu/geography/Ivogeler/w188/planta3.htm Slide 14- http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/saipe/national.cgi?year=2009&ascii=