Sharecropping
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What is sharecropping?
Sharecropping is a form of agriculture where a landowner provides land and capital, while tenants offer their labor. Landowners may also furnish food, clothing, and medical care, and supervise work. Payment is a share of the product, cash, or a mix.
After the Civil War, lacking land or money, many freed people sharecropped for white plantation owners. Landowners favored this because they didn't have to pay wages. They provided land, power, and machinery as an advance, deducting these charges from the harvest. Poor seasons and unfair practices often left sharecroppers in debt, under economic insecurity. The Great Depression and overproduction of cotton devastated sharecropping, leading to its decline after World War II due to mechanization and the Great Migration.
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How did sharecropping work on farms?
Sharecropping arose after the Civil War because many freed people didn't have land or money and had to work for white plantation owners. Landowners provided land, supplies, and housing, deducting these costs from the sharecroppers' harvest, often resulting in debt for the sharecroppers. Contracts often restricted sharecroppers, preventing them from saving seeds and charging high interest rates. The Great Depression and the mechanization of farming led to the decline of sharecropping after World War II.
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Why did some farmers become sharecroppers?
Following the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, many freed people lacked land or money and had to continue working for white plantation owners. Landowners, short of capital, favored the system because it did not require them to pay cash wages. Sharecropping gradually became the accepted labor system in most of the South, including poor rural whites. Charges for land, supplies and housing were deducted from the sharecroppers’ portion of the harvest, often leaving them with substantial debt to the landowners in bad years. Contracts between landowners and sharecroppers were typically harsh and restrictive.
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What crops were commonly grown by sharecroppers?
Sharecroppers in the American South commonly grew cotton as their main crop, but they also often produced eggs, milk, and vegetables to gain extra money and freedom from debt. Many contracts forbade sharecroppers from saving cotton seeds from their harvest, which forced them to get seeds from the landowner and increased their debt. The Great Depression had devastating effects on sharecropping because of the overproduction of cotton, which caused cotton prices to fall dramatically after the stock market crash of 1929 and bankrupted farmers.
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How did sharecropping affect the lives of families involved?
Sharecropping significantly impacted families, especially following the Civil War. Landowners provided land, supplies, and housing, but charged for these, deducting costs from the sharecroppers' harvest, often resulting in substantial debt. Contracts were harsh, with practices like forbidding seed saving and charging high interest rates, increasing debt.
Sharecropping offered more autonomy than slavery and allowed families to stay together. However, poverty and economic insecurity were widespread, and sharecroppers were often under the tacit bondage of debt. The Great Depression worsened conditions, with falling cotton prices and landowners reducing labor needs, increasing poverty.
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What were some of the problems or criticisms of the sharecropping system?
The sharecropping system, which emerged after the American Civil War, faced considerable criticism and challenges. Though it offered more autonomy than slavery, it often led to debt slavery due to unfair practices. Landowners frequently charged high interest rates and manipulated the weighing of harvested crops, trapping sharecroppers in a cycle of debt. Many contracts forbade sharecroppers from saving cotton seeds, forcing them to incur further debt. The legal system also offered little recourse, as Southern courts were unlikely to rule in favor of Black sharecroppers against white landowners. The Great Depression and the overproduction of cotton further devastated sharecroppers, leading to widespread poverty and underemployment.
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Sharecropping, form of tenant farming in which the landowner furnished all the capital and most other inputs and the tenants contributed their labor. Depending on the arrangement, the landowner may have provided the food, clothing, and medical expenses of the tenants and may have also supervised the work. The tenants’ payment to the owner was in the form of a share in the product, or in cash, or in a combination of both.
The rise of sharecropping after the American Civil War
Following the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery, most freed people lacked land or money and had to continue working for white plantation owners. Indeed, many plantations continued to run as large operations that were worked by wage-laborers or sharecroppers, including also poor rural whites, and sharecropping gradually became the accepted labor system in most of the South. Landowners, short of capital, favored the system because it did not require them to pay cash wages. In addition to the land, the owners usually provided animal power, machinery, and most of the other inputs in the form of an advance. Cabins were commonly rented to the workers. Charges for the land, supplies, and housing were deducted from the sharecroppers’ portion of the harvest, often leaving them with substantial debt to the landowners in bad years. Sharecroppers received what was left if they were able to pay back the owners—generally about half of what had been produced under decent arrangements. A string of poor seasons or periods of low prices, coupled with the proliferation of unfair practices with little legal recourse, meant that many sharecroppers were held under the tacit bondage of economic insecurity (see also debt slavery).
Contracts between landowners and sharecroppers were typically harsh and restrictive. Many contracts forbade sharecroppers from saving cotton seeds from their harvest, forcing them to increase their debt by obtaining seeds from the landowner. Landowners also charged extremely high interest rates. Landowners often weighed harvested crops themselves, which presented further opportunities to deceive or extort sharecroppers. Immediately following the Civil War, financially distressed landowners could rent land to African American sharecroppers, secure their debt and labor, and then drive them away just before it was time to harvest the crops. Southern courts were unlikely to rule in favor of Black sharecroppers against white landowners.
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In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, agricultural and social reformers sought to address these conditions. Among them was George Washington Carver, an American agricultural chemist who promoted crop diversification—particularly the planting of peanuts and other legumes—to restore soil fertility and reduce dependence on cotton. His work at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (now Tuskegee University) formed part of a broader effort, associated with educators such as Booker T. Washington and agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to improve farming methods, expand economic opportunities, and promote greater self-sufficiency among poor Southern farmers, including sharecroppers.
Decline
The Great Depression had devastating effects on sharecropping, as did the South’s continued overproduction of and overemphasis on cotton and the ravages of the destructive boll weevil. Cotton prices fell dramatically after the stock market crash of 1929, and the ensuing downturn bankrupted farmers. The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 offered farmers money to produce less cotton in order to raise prices. Many white landowners kept the money and allowed the land previously worked by sharecroppers to remain empty. Landowners also often invested the money in mechanization, reducing the need for labor and leaving more sharecropping families, Black and white, underemployed and in poverty. Sharecropping in the United States gradually died out after World War II as the mechanization of farming became widespread. So too, African Americans left the system as they moved to better-paying industrial jobs in the North during the Great Migration. Similar forms of tenant farming are still found in some places around the world.