Sharecropping
Definition
This was an agricultural system that emerged after the Civil War, where landowners allowed tenants to use their land in exchange for a share of the crops produced.
Analogy
It's like renting an apartment, but instead of paying money, you pay with a portion of what you produce in your home-based business. If you're a baker working from home, instead of giving your landlord cash for rent, you give them half of all the bread you bake.
Related terms
Tenant Farming: An agricultural production system where landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management while tenants contribute their labor along with at times varying amounts of capital and management.
Crop Lien System: A credit system used by farmers to buy supplies against future crop yields as collateral.
Freedmen's Bureau: A U.S. federal government agency established in 1865 to aid freed slaves (freedmen) in the South during the Reconstruction era.
"Sharecropping" appears in:
Practice Questions (6)
- What was one key distinction between how sharecropping and tenant farming impacted African Americans during Reconstruction?
- What aspect of Sharecropping during Reconstruction aligns with elements of modern day prison labor systems?
- How did sharecropping contribute to the failure of Reconstruction?
- Why was sharecropping a systemically oppressive structure against African Americans in the “New South”?
- How might history differ if sharecropping was banned post-Civil War?
- How might Southern agricultural economies have evolved differently if sharecropping hadn't become commonplace after the Civil War?
Resources
© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.
AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.