labor
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The goal among many Southern whites was to find an alternative to slavery, making it difficult for blacks to enjoy their freedom. [3] Assertions of authority over black workers limited their freedom and gave blacks no choice but to sign labor contracts with planters. [2][9] A convict lease system was used for cheap labor; coming from criminals arrested for small crimes. [7] Blacks were expected to work under close supervision, which closely resembled working conditions under slavery. [1] Other attempts to restore white dominance to the South included the restoration of gang labor. [1] This unfair treatment among black workers undermined the definition of freedom.
Sharecropping
A sharecropping system had developed during Reconstruction and it carried the 20th century. [2]Sharecropping allowed blacks to rent plots of land to work on in return for a portion of the crop at the end of the year. Many sharecroppers were threatened with violence to sign unfair labor contracts and worked under exploitive conditions that left blacks with little benefits and gave rise to a new white-man’s supremacy. [2]
In a Southern economy that was dependent on cotton, former slaveholders were in need of laborers to work on their crop. [1] These slaveholders found it difficult to regard blacks as anything other than field workers and many blacks were unemployed, leading to a mutual need between the two parties that led to the sharecropping system. [3] Plantation owners and their workers experienced unstable relationships between one another because planters found themselves sticking to their pro-slavery ideologies that created a rift between plantation owners and laborers. [3]
Sharecropping
A sharecropping system had developed during Reconstruction and it carried the 20th century. [2]Sharecropping allowed blacks to rent plots of land to work on in return for a portion of the crop at the end of the year. Many sharecroppers were threatened with violence to sign unfair labor contracts and worked under exploitive conditions that left blacks with little benefits and gave rise to a new white-man’s supremacy. [2]
In a Southern economy that was dependent on cotton, former slaveholders were in need of laborers to work on their crop. [1] These slaveholders found it difficult to regard blacks as anything other than field workers and many blacks were unemployed, leading to a mutual need between the two parties that led to the sharecropping system. [3] Plantation owners and their workers experienced unstable relationships between one another because planters found themselves sticking to their pro-slavery ideologies that created a rift between plantation owners and laborers. [3]
After freedom, we worked on shares a while. Then we rented. When we worked on shares, we couldn’t make nothing, just overall and something to eat. Half went to the other man and you would destroy your half if you weren’t careful. A man that didn’t know how to count would always lose. He might lose anyhow. They didn’t give no itemized statement. No, you just had to take their word. They never give you no details. They just say you owe so much. No matter how good account you kept, you had to go by their account and now, Brother, I’m tellin‘ you the truth about this. It’s been that way for a long time. You had to take the white man’s work on note, and everything. Anything you wanted, you could git if you were a good hand. You could git anything you wanted as long as you worked. If you didn’t make no money, that’s all right; they would advance you more. But you better not leave him, you better not try to leave and get caught. They’d keep you in debt. They were sharp. Christmas come, you could take up twenty dollar, in somethin’ to eat and much as you wanted in whiskey. You could buy a gallon of whiskey. Anything that kept you a slave because he was always right and you were always wrong it there was difference. If there was an argument, he would get mad and there would be a shooting take place. -Henry Blake [4] |
Blacks worked under the terms of their white plantation owners as shown in Henry Blake's account of sharecropping. Making a living was difficult because any objections to their unfair pay were often met with violence; giving blacks no voice and limiting their freedom of speech on the plantation fields. [4]
Convict Lease
In 1877, Redeemer policies led to a new system of labor called the convict lease system [7]. With the prison population on the rise and the destruction of prisons during the war , using prisoners for work on the railroads, mines, and lumber companies was a way to get cheap labor. [6] Blacks were arrested for minor reasons and this system was targeted mainly towards those who were unemployed. [7] Conditions in these labor camps were bad with the risk of contracting disease and dying on the job. This labor system was challenged by the Knights of Labor and in 1892, an insurrection occurred in Tennessee where miners burned a convict labor house to the ground. [6] As convict laborers began to gain public sympathy, the price to house them began to rise and revenue was lost which eventually led to the end of the convict lease system. [7]
Although the reconstruction era removed the slave label from blacks whom experienced growing economic independence, blacks still experienced segregation in the labor force during Post-Reconstruction. Pro-slavery views dating back to the pre-civil war era lingered among whites and made it difficult for blacks to experience full independence promised after the 13th Amendment. [10]
[1] Ochiltree, Ian. "Mastering the Sharecroppers: Land,." Journal of Southern African Studies 30.1 (2004): 4. EBSCOhost. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.
[2] Sharecropping . (2013). The History Channel website. Retrieved 5:11, September 25, 2013, from http://www.history.com/.
[3] Ochiltree, Ian. "Mastering the Sharecroppers: Land,." Journal of Southern African Studies 30.1 (2004): 3. EBSCOhost. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.
[4] ""When We Worked on Shares, We Couldn't Make Nothing": Henry Blake Talks About Sharecropping after the Civil War." History Matters. History Matters, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2013. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6377/.
[5] "Next: Reconstructions Previous: Andrew Johnson vs. Thaddeus Stevens 5.6: Sharecropping." CK-12 Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. http://www.ck12.org/book/U.S.-History-Sourcebook---Basic/r2/section/5.6/.
[6] Foner, Eric. Give me liberty!: an American history. Seagull third ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012, 641.
[7] "Convict Leasing." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. http://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/convict-leasing/.
[8] "Florida Department of CorrectionsMichael D. Crews, Secretary." Timeline: 1877-1895. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2013. <http://www.dc.state.fl.us/oth/timeline/1877-1895.html>.
[9] Ochiltree, Ian. "Mastering the Sharecroppers: Land,." Journal of Southern African Studies 30.1 (2004): 17. EBSCOhost. Web. 18 Sept. 2013.
[10] "The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress." The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. American Memory, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. <http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mal:15:./temp/~ammem_uHz9::@@@mdb=mcc,gottscho,detr,nfor,wpa,aap,cwar,bbpix,cowellbib,calbkbib,consrvbib,bdsbib,dag,fsaall,gmd,pan,vv,
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Header Photograph
Giesen, James C. "Sharecropping." New Georgia Encyclopedia. N.p., 26 Jan. 2007. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/sharecropping.