Essay On Reconstruction Sharecropping

C121 Task 3

Part A. Reconstruction changed race relations in the United States as illustrated by white resistance groups, black codes and sharecropping. The freeing of slaves by the thirteenth amendment was a huge step in the right direction. Blacks could now live their lives free and make their own decisions, but things weren’t perfect. White southerners were against Reconstruction and emancipation and many came together to express their resistance. These white resistance groups ranged from small local groups to widespread ones such as The Ku Klux Klan. In North Carolina there was a magistrate that beat a black man on a street. Other small groups in different states began to target and terrorize blacks, especially those who they felt were

With all the laws, taxes and codes that the blacks had to follow, owning land was unrealistic for many. Blacks turned to a cheaper alternative, renting. Unfortunately, this also had its downfalls, such as the lack of white landowners willing to rent to blacks. This led to a system called sharecropping. Sharecropping was an arrangement between white landowners and free blacks, the landowner would provide goods like food and seeds and the blacks would farm and use a portion of their crop as a payment to the landowners. This arrangement was formed in 1868 and by the 1880s it was common with most of the arrangements being half for the owner and half for themselves. Sharecropping seemed to benefit both races. The whites had permanent and dependent laborers while the blacks were now freed from supervision. Despite those benefits sharecropping turned out to be disastrous. Both the landowners and blacks fell into debt, leaving the black sharecroppers bound to the landowners. This situation turned out to be almost as oppressive as slavery. (Norton,

In the 1870s a movement called Social Gospel appeared. Walter Rauschenbusch, Charles Sheldon, and Washington Gladden, were all Protestant Ministers that led this movement to fight against social injustices. They believed that helping others was the way to salvation and true Christians should live their life through the thinking of “What would Jesus do?”. Even those not led by religion began to believe that they should help others. An example of this is the 700,000 subscribers to a newspaper titled Appeal to Reason. The newspaper was created by a socialist party made up of members who wanted the United States to adopt goals that other countries have. A few of these benefits include low-cost housing, labor reform and old-age pensions. Several more groups who wanted reform began to spread nationally. These groups knew that there were injustices happening and that helping was the moral thing to do. Some of the injustices they fought against were abuse of power, women’s rights and protecting the welfare of all classes instead of just the upper class. These progressive views were often published and voiced by journalists. These journalists would expose the injustices and corruptions occurring and were dubbed muckrakers. Whether in established groups or voicing an individual opinion, numerous people started fighting injustices due to morality or religious reasons. (Norton,