5.6. Sharecropping http://www.ck12.org
5.6 Sharecropping
After the Civil War, America debated how to handle the millions of freed slaves. The eventual outcome was a system
of sharecropping, in which plantation owners retained possession of their land and allowed freedmen to farm small
parts of it. In return, the landowner received a percentage of the crop. The documents below include a photograph
of sharecroppers and a sharecropping contract. As you examine them, compare the sharecropping system to the
Radical Republican’s plan to give each freedman “40 acres and a mule.” Which would be better for the freed slaves?
Which would be better for the landowners? Which would be fairer?
Black Sharecroppers Picking Cotton in Georgia
Source: Black sharecroppers picking cotton in Georgia, photograph by T.W. Ingersoll, 1898. Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C.(Figure 5.4).
FIGURE 5.4
Question:
- Describe what you see in this picture. What is this a picture of? Why do you think that?