Sharecroppers Essay example - 1303 Words

nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;After the devastation left from the Civil War, many field owners looked for new ways to replace their former slaves with field hands for farming and production use. From this need for new field hands came sharecroppers, a â€Å"response to the destitution and disorganized† agricultural results of the Civil War (Wilson 29). Sharecropping is the working of a piece of land by a tenant in exchange for a portion of the crops that they bring in for their landowners. These farmhands provided their labor, while the landowners provided living accommodations for the worker and his family, along with tools, seeds, fertilizers, and a portion of the crops that they had harvested that season. A sharecropper had â€Å"no entitlement†¦show more content†¦During these times, minimizing was the key for most families. Often this meant that items such as â€Å"shoes, socks and underwear were accessories† if any at all (Gentry 138). Due to this lack in app ropriate clothing, many times â€Å"the family was held back from ‘social doin’s’ because of their unkempt appearance† (Corder and Miller 42). Along with the emotional embarrassment of their personal appearance, sharecroppers and their families suffered physical consequences. Often a lack of inadequate clothing left them more susceptible to illness, and in their circumstances, that was a risk they could not afford to take. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Another important factor for the substandard conditions of sharecroppers was their significant lack of food. Having to survive off of low supplies of food is harmful to anyone, but to people who are lacking in so many other areas, it could be devastating. Sharecroppers everywhere were already being cheated of how much of the seasons harvest was actually theirs, in addition to the impractical rules of what they could and could not own while they lived on the landowners farm land. â€Å"Nutrition standards of sharecroppers were already low,† and these regulations increased them (Walker 37). Many sharecroppers across the south â€Å"were not even allowed to have gardens, cows, or chickens† (Walker 18). Most of the time, the only field crops that sharecroppers could have as their own foodShow MoreRelatedPoverty Of Sharecroppers And Unemployed Industrial Workers1772 Words   |  8 Pages Poverty of Sharecroppers vs Unemployed Industrial Workers Poverty has been a big issue over the past century or so and continues to be a problem to this day in the United States. Due to the Civil War, rural areas and industrial areas were affected by poverty. The poverty of rural sharecroppers in 1877 was different from the poverty of unemployed industrial workers in 1939. Even though both situations were dealing with a form of poverty, both were two completely different situations. There were severalRead MoreSharecroppers: Reconstruction Era of the United States and Field Hands1328 Words   |  6 PagesAfter the devastation left from the Civil War, many field owners looked for new ways to replace their former slaves with field hands for farming and production use. From this need for new field hands came sharecroppers, a response to the destitution and disorganized agricultural results of the Civil War (Wilson 29). Sharecropping is the working of a piece of land by a tenant in exchange for a portion of the crops that they bring in for th eir landowners. These farmhands provided their labor,Read MoreAs a son of a sharecropper and grandson of a slave, Jesse Owens created History in 1936 when he1500 Words   |  6 PagesAs a son of a sharecropper and grandson of a slave, Jesse Owens created History in 1936 when he achieved what no athlete had done before: four Olympic Gold Medals. (jesseowens.com). During this era, the United States had limited civil rights and was approaching a World War with Hitler rising into power in Germany. Although Owens was victorious on the track, because of the color of his skin, He was looked down upon and unrecognized by even his own country. Through the excessive racism, one may askRead MoreThe Plight Of The Immigrant Farmer Worker Essay1356 Words   |  6 Pagesportion of their land to the sharecropper. By doing so the immigrant sharecropper would then be responsible for just about every aspect of the farm operation. In effect he would become a pseudo farmer, but in the end would reall y hold no power or land. Sharecroppers lease the land from the farmer. The farmers will lend the money to run the farm to the sharecropper at a very high interest rate. Schlosser notes, â€Å"under the old arraignment, if things went wrong, sharecroppers simply would not be paid forRead MoreHistorical Context of Barn Burning Essay672 Words   |  3 Pagesas a sharecropper because he is white. At this time in history, many sharecroppers were freed slaves. Snopes believed that because he was white, he shouldn’t be a sharecropper. Like many sharecropper at this time, Snopes had plenty debts that needed to paid off. Instead of paying off his debts, Snopes decide to burn down his landowner’s barns. This leads Snopes and his family to move from county to county. This was a very common life for sharecroppers at this time. The life of a sharecropper was fullRead MoreEssay on The Reasons for the Failure of Reconstruction542 Words   |  3 Pagesreality, sharecroppers could n ot earn enough money to ever purchase the land. The large plantations broke up as the owners divided the land into small plots that African American and poor white families lived upon. There were conflicting interests between the farmers and the landowners, just as there were between the slaves and the plantation masters. The sharecroppers wanted to become independent landowners, which they were unable to do. The landowners sought a profit from their sharecroppers, butRead MoreAncient History and Slavery836 Words   |  4 Pages1865. Sharecropping and the Jim Crow laws maintained a chokehold on the freemen and poor white sharecroppers. After the American Civil War, sharecropping replaced the big plantations throughout the soft. Sharecropping was a response to economic depression caused by the end of slavery. Many poor white and black farmers earned a living working the land owned by someone else. The first sharecroppers were the former black slaves. The system continued to enslave the freemen to a certain degree becauseRead MoreThe Strawberry Fields By Eric Schlosser1306 Words   |  6 Pagesalternative to getting paid, the sharecropper receives half of the profits for his portion of the field, while the rest goes to the owner. While this may seem like a good arrangement, there are many variables. The weather, and therefore the harvest, is completely unpredictable. There is no telling whether the crops will be good or not. Not only that, but oftentimes the owner does not honestly split the money. More money will go to the owner, and the sharecropper is frequently left unaware of it.Read MoreAmerican Culture, English And American Literature, And English, By Dr. Neil Foley1308 Words   |  6 Pagesexceptional example of Borderlands interactions because of the nature of cotton culture as compared to plantation farming in other parts of the South. Cotton farming in central Texas relied on mostly white share tenants, and mostly black or Mexican sharecroppers. Migrant Mexican labor was also used to harvest crops. These three standards produced complex configurations as Mexicans began competing with blacks for more work and both competed with whites for tenancy. Although a southern state, Foley considersRead MoreAmerican Outcasts : The Okie Exodus714 Words   |  3 PagesSteinbeck’s Harvest Gypsies finds that those who lived in These people were tenant farmers or sharecroppers, who lost their homes and were migrant workers, and lived in extended families. A combination of rural and urban people with no government relief. Many people in the United States were tenant farmers or sharecroppers before the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, many of these tenant farmers or sharecroppers were forced off the land, because either their labor could not be afforded, or the