RECONSTRUCTION IN THE SOUTH

SHARECROPPING EQ: In what ways were slavery and sharecropping similar and different? Freedom and Hardship

¨ African Americans sang with joy to celebrate their new freedom.

¨ Reconstruction was a time for hope for them – slavery had ended at last and they had the chance to make new lives for themselves! ¨ Freedom was exciting, but it wasn’t easy.

¨ Newly freed African Americans had to struggle to make a living. They also had to prepare for their new role as full citizens – they worked to educate themselves and took part in politics.

¨ Times were hard though, and some did not want African Americans to be truly free. The Rise of Sharecropping

¨ Reconstruction ended the plantation system in the South, leaving many people there very poor.

¨ Freed people wanted to farm for themselves; however, few had enough money to buy land. Sharecropping

¨ Landowners set up a system called sharecropping that let poor whites and former slaves become farmers.

¨ In sharecropping, poor farmers used a landowner’s fields. In return, the farmer gave the landowner a share of the crop.

¨ Landowners often loaned sharecroppers tools and seeds as well. How does it work?

¨ Sharecropping: when a farmer works part of the land and gives the landowner part of the harvest Land worked by sharecroppers.

Plantation Hardships of Sharecropping

¨ Sharecropping gave African Americans some independence, but it also kept poor farmers in debt. After selling their crops, many sharecroppers did not have enough money to pay the landowners what they owed. They had to keep borrowing and could not get out of debt. ¨ As a result, freedmen were in constant debt to the landowners and were never able to earn a profit. If they tried to move, they could be arrested. Therefore, freedmen became tied down to the land, in a state similar to slavery. A terrible cycle of poverty What is Reconstruction?

¨A period after the Civil War (1865-1877) when the South reunited and rebuilt