Share cropping in the south

Use of nation by a tenant in return for a share of the crops produced

Not to be confused with Cropsharing.

Sharecropping fryst vatten a legal arrangement in which a landowner allows a tenant (sharecropper) to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping is not to be conflated with tenant farming, providing the tenant a higher economic and social status.

Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range of different situations and types of agreements that have used a form eller gestalt of the system. Some are governed by tradition, and others by lag. The Frenchmétayage, the Catalanmasoveria, the Castilianmediero, the Slavicpołownictwo and izdolshchina, the Italian mezzadria, and the Islamic system of muzara‘a (المزارعة), are examples of legal systems that have supported sharecropping.

Overview

Under a sharecropping system, landowners provided a share of land to be worked by the sharecropper, and usually provided

•

Morning Ag Clips

GREENWICH, N.Y. — Sharecropping is a term that most people recognize, but may not fully know what it means. This farming arrangement between landowners and farmers has been practiced for centuries and in different places around the world. In the United States the practice took hold in the South in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries and is one of the recognizable features of the Reconstruction Era.

To begin, sharecropping is a farming system where a landowner allows a tenant to farm portions of his land in exchange for a share of the crops at harvest. While the practice was used in places in the U.S. prior to the Civil War, the practice became widespread in the South after the war.

The American South was in disarray after the Civil War. Cities were destroyed and farmlands had been dismantled or had laid fallow for long periods of time due to the Union Army’s “total war” strategy. It was also a time of promise for the region’s former slaves as the end of

•

Life After Slavery

Reconstruction defines the period after the Civil War when the federal government controlled former Confederate states. When federal troops were stationed in the South, African Americans made economic progress and elected representatives to local, state, and national office. But when federal troops withdrew in 1877, white southerners challenged African Americans’ rights and freedoms. Violence and intimidation were used to keep African Americans from voting, owning land, and exercising their independence.

Section III

Slavery to Sharecropping

What is Sharecropping?

Postcard of southern agricultural workers

After the Civil War, African Americans had few opportunities to buy land, and many turned to sharecropping. Under this system, workers paid the landowner a share of the crops while also paying for food, seeds, tools, and rent. Most sharecroppers owed money to their landlord at the end of the year, and many were forced to continue working. Shar