Reconstruction, Expansion, and the Triumph of Industrial Capitalism 7Sharecropping, the prevailing labor system, would remain the dominant
working condition for Blacks until the Great Depression. In it, a slave would
make an agreement–always one-sided, often with his former master–to take
responsibility for farming a piece of the land on the larger plantation and
provide a share of the crops to the planter as rent. The landowner would
then loan the Black farmer the money to buy the tools, seed, and other equip-
ment needed to work. The loans for tools and seed were borrowed against
the future value of the crops to be produced, which put the ex-slave in debt
from the start. As a result of this “credit” system, the sharecropper would owe
the planter a 50 percent or larger share of anything produced, even before he
broke ground.
If the sharecropper did not meet quota [and drought, flood, and market
conditions always made it nearly impossible to meet their share] then the ex-
slaves would have to get another loan from the planter. Now, the landowner
would place a lien–a requirement for future payment–on the part of the crop
that would have originally been kept by the sharecropper. In this way, the
sharecropper owed not only the original 50 percent or more to the land-
holder, but an additional amount [and the interest rates for the lien would be
in the 30-70 percent range] that he could rarely, if ever meet. Therefore, the
sharecroppers were in constant debt to the landowner and in a condition that
was not materially different than slavery, often termed debt peonage. They owed
more money than they could possibly ever repay, so the solution for the land-
owners was to make sure the farmers could never leave. They enacted laws
making it illegal to leave as long as the Black farmer owed on a crop-lien, and
it was enforced vigorously. It was "better than slavery" from the landowners’
view because under slavery, an owner had obligations to provide at least some
food and shelter – under the crop-lien and sharecropping systems, landowners
had to provide nothing, and more often than not, still got everything. As one
sharecropping contract spelled out,
every cropper must be responsible for all gear and farming implements
placed in his hands, and if not returned must be paid for unless it is worn
out by use.... Croppers must sow and plow... oats and haul them to the
crib, but must have no part of them. Nothing [is] to be sold from their
crops, nor fodder nor corn to be carried from their fields until my rent is
all paid, and all amounts they owe me and for which I am responsible are