Honey’s book is important in helping us understand the dynamics of the working class life and struggles of the African American community during the Civil Rights era. It also offers some insight into the development of the labor movement in Memphis, TN. In the 1930s and 40s, African American workers began organizing under the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). The CIO was important for the African American workers because it addressed issues of race discrimination in the workplace and in the labor movement. They also challenged the administration of E.H. Crump, a political machine that was responsible for the unfair treatment and degradation of the African American community.
Sharecropping and tenant farming emerged as makeshift solutions to sustain the agrarian economy in the absence of coerced labor. Laura Wilson's seminal work, "Beyond Tobacco Road: Enriching the Field of Sharecropping Studies," delves into the complexities of sharecropping, shedding light on its multifaceted implications for individuals and communities. Wilson highlights how sharecropping provided a means of survival for newly emancipated African Americans and poor whites in the post-Civil War South, offering them a semblance of autonomy and economic opportunity in a rapidly changing society. However, beneath its veneer of opportunity lay a system rife with exploitation and systemic inequality. Wesley Riddle's research in "The Origins of Black Sharecropping" underscores the economic vulnerabilities faced by African American sharecroppers, who found themselves trapped in cycles of debt and dependency.
Farmers of the late 19th century faced several struggles as they attempted to feed themselves and a growing nation. Though they were undeniably crucial to the country, the country often abandoned them to fend against their problems themselves. These desertments lead to the creation of several movements, such as The Grange, and of political parties such as the Populists. The challenges of American farmers were often intertwined and difficult to get to one cause of the problem. Increasing railroad use and inflated prices hurt the farmers tremendously, which then lead to widespread debt and the cry for silver to be used in the money standard, which then resulted in overproduction of goods to try to overcompensate for the burgeoning debt, but only made it worse.
Many of the union's members were African American, and they faced significant discrimination and racism. The union worked to fight against this discrimination and to promote racial equality. They also worked to improve the lives of all poor farmers, regardless of their race. The Sharecroppers Union faced significant opposition from landlords, who saw the union as a threat to their power and profits.
One way of degrading black citizens was through Black Codes, which counties implemented to keep blacks away from their settlement or to control them. For example, some rules include that blacks cannot come within limits of town without permission from white employers, own land, organize public meetings, carry firearms, and must be in service of white men (Document E). Through these rules, white citizens reinforce the idea of sharecropping to practically own black farmers. Sharecropping is the idea that black farmers use land from white farmers but must pay back their debt and a certain percentage of profit. Using deceit, white farmers forced black farmers into a never-ending cycle of increasing debt and miserable life.
This is first shown in Document D, which was the Freedman Bureau, an organization that provided food, housing, and more for African Americans’. This was a good idea and would’ve helped out African Americans a lot, but it didn’t work out exactly as planned. Some of the issues with this were lack of funding for all of it and persistent racism in the South. So even though people made attempts to help out African Americans’, it didn’t work out completely in their favor, proving that Reconstruction did not protect African Americans’ economic rights. Furthermore, Document F explains “The Sharecropper Cycle of Poverty.”
For example, black schools received far less funding than white schools and the same held true for all segregated public institutions. As the majority of the African American population was concentrated in the South these developments affected millions. Although the Progressive Era is referred to as a golden age of agriculture, the vast majority of African Americans were sharecroppers and thus benefited minimally. African Americans were painfully aware of the exploitive nature of sharecropping as evidenced by the Southern African American folk saying, “[d]e white man he got ha’f de crop/Boll-Weevil took de res’” (Doc 1).
To keep this from happening farmers made the sharecroppers indebted to them keeping the sharecroppers from having any money to support themselves. As stated, sharecropping had drastic effects on the relationship between black people and white people. Examples of this are shown when the article states: “Well, I’ve had so much trouble with these black people, I’m going to employ white people” (Painter para. 13) Additionally, the overall actions between black and white people rose wages (Painter para.
Therefore, the reader can tell that the workers are advocating for themselves and aiming to create political change that treats workers more fair. This document is written from the point of view of leaders in the NAACP. This is significant because their interest is promoting and ensuring the advancement of colored people, and they believe that this policy is bringing them in the opposite direction. Sadly, segregation wasn’t the only problem in businesses. During the Gilded Age and the beginning of the Progressive movement, businesses were also preventing the formation of unions, which removed the employee’s main protection.
The landowners took advantage of their tenants by overcharging for land and underpaying for the crops. The tenants began falling deeper into debt. They could not leave until they paid off their debt, which was nearly impossible. Although former slaves had been freed, they were still facing many struggles in free life. America’s plan for reconstruction had good intent, but did not give African Americans the equality they deserved.
Cradling. Dignified. Get rid of scarf.” Unlike other American women, black women were sexually exploited by their employers and had to scrub floors in their homes and in white homes as
The first African American leaders in the South Came from the ranks of antebellum free blacks who were joint by norther blacks to support Reconstruction. Blanche K Bruce an ex slave established a school for freedmen and in 1874 he became Mississippi’s second black U.S. senator. African American speakers who were financed by the Republican Party, spread out into the plantation districts and recruited former slaves to take part in politics. In South Carolina, African Americans constituted a majority in the lower house of legislature in 1868. Over the reconstruction twenty African Americans served in state administrations as Governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, or lesser offices.
Historically, most working-class black women could only do the low-paid jobs, since skilled industrial work is dominated by the white working-class (Jacqueline, 1985). They have to keep working to make
Sharecropping allowed newly freed African Americans to have a place to live and a way to make money, as well as allowing large farm and plantation owners to still make money by growing and selling cash crops. Sharecropping allowed newly freed African Americans to easily obtain a job because of the fact that there was either little or no payment that they had to give to the plantation or farm owners, instead everything was paid for by the tenants through a portion of the crop yields that were given to the plantation and farm owners. While this allowed for a temporary solution to the problem that both the plantation owners and the newly freed African Americans faced, this solution was far from
Especially since Myop lived during a time where African Americans were subject to immense racism and bigotry. This is proven through the author’s writing of what Myop’s family farmed, “The harvesting of the corn and cotton, peanuts and squash”(Walker 5). Farming multiple crops on one farm is known as sharecropping which primarily happened after the Civil War. Furthermore white landowners would inundate black farmers with an immense amount of debt. In addition one can assume Myop’s family is unfortunately apart of this sad event.
