Debt peonage is a system where a person is bound in servitude until their debts are paid off, effectively trapping individuals in a cycle of debt and labor. This practice became widespread in the post-Civil War South, particularly alongside sharecropping and the convict lease system, as it allowed landowners to maintain control over labor while preventing former slaves and poor whites from gaining financial independence. Through manipulation of credit and inflated prices, workers found themselves unable to escape their obligations, leading to a form of economic slavery.
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