Sharecropping

What children learn in Level 74

• Many freed people wanted land of their own. In early 1865, General Sherman set aside land along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina for them. Then President Johnson gave most of it back to its old owners.
• So landowners had land and no workers, and freed families had their work and no land. Out of that came sharecropping. A family farmed part of someone's land and paid with a share of the crop, often half.
• It was better than slavery in real ways. Families lived together, and no one could be sold. But look at how the year went.
• Here's a made-up harvest. The crop sold for 300 dollars, and half went to the owner. The farmer's store bill was 170 dollars, so the family ended the year owing 20 dollars.
• That debt wasn't from bad choices. Stores charged high prices, cotton prices fell, and owners often kept the account books and cheated. Black and white farmers were both caught. Many could not leave until they paid, so the debt held them on the land.