This 1867 contract between landowner Isham G. Bailey in Marshall County, Mississippi, and two freedmen stipulates different arrangements for each man’s family.
On January 5, 1866 , a sharecropping contract was made between W. R. Bath, a white land owner, and Ned Littlepage, a freedman.
When and where was this contract written? In 1882 in the Southern United States . More specifically, North Carolina. 2.
A Sharecropping Contract: 1882 (Modified)
The sharecroppers are to have half of the cotton, corn, peas, pumpkins, and potatoes they grow if the following conditions are complied with , but–if not–they are to have only two-fifths.
Cash rent and the 1/3-2/3 lease are the major contracts used now. However, a true sharecropping system is still in use from time to time.
Traditional sharecropping declined after mechanization of farm work became economical beginning in the late 1930s and early 1940s. As a result, many sharecroppers were forced off the farms, and migrated to cities to work in factories, or became migrant workers in the Western United States during World War II.
What was most likely to happen if a sharecropper did not like the contract the landowner offered? The landowner would force the sharecropper to sign. The landowner would ask a lawyer to review it.
What was one reason why sharecropping began in the South? It was a way to take advantage of the South’s strong infrastructure . The federal government required Southerners to use this system. The Southern economy and farms had been destroyed during the Civil War.
Though both groups were at the bottom of the social ladder, sharecroppers began to organize for better working rights, and the integrated Southern Tenant Farmers Union began to gain power in the 1930s. The Great Depression, mechanization, and other factors lead sharecropping to fade away in the 1940s .
Sharecropping was bad because it increased the amount of debt that poor people owed the plantation owners . Sharecropping was similar to slavery because after a while, the sharecroppers owed so much money to the plantation owners they had to give them all of the money they made from cotton.
A Sharecropping Contract
Poor, illiterate and intimidated by widespread violence after the Civil War, many former slaves agreed to sharecropping contracts, such as this one, that were designed to keep them poor.
Sharecropping, form of tenant farming in which the landowner furnished all the capital and most other inputs and the tenants contributed their labour. 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.
Who were tenants?
A tenant is someone who pays rent for the place they live in , or for land or buildings that they use. Regulations placed clear obligations on the landlord for the benefit of the tenant. Landowners frequently left the management of their estates to tenant farmers.
Explanation: The land owner got 50% of the profits without effort or risk. The people sharecropping ( usually freed slaves and a few poor whites) did all of the work.
What problem did many farmers have under the sharecropping system? They were forced to grow cash crops instead of food . They often were trapped in a cycle or circle of debt. Many sharecroppers were forced to buy goods on credit.
Sharecropping is when the owner of the land rents it to someone in exchange for part of their crop. The difference between sharecropping and slavery is freedom . While slaves work without pay, sharecroppers get payed with crops. Sharecroppers can also choose to quit their jobs whenever they want.
