history 101

ome scholars have tried to term sharecropping as a return to slavery, but that is an over-simplification of a complex situation.  You are correct, however, that the system did a lot of damage.   Landowners themselves were in debt to the banks, so it was a vicious cycle that trapped the South.  Poor folks, both black and white, were tied to the land because there was little money for wages.  I often compare sharecropping to serfdom in Russia.

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 would later be overturned and the Black Codes became the Jim Crow system that would not be reversed until LBJ's Presidency in 1964-65.  And yet, there were some positive changes did result from the new African-American communities created by sharecropping and emancipation.  Take a look at the following map and interpret what social progress free blacks had made by 1880.  

Discuss with classmates on the same topic and submit your findings as a Follow Up!

JL

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