Sharecropping Thesis

The landowners took advantage of their tenants by overcharging for land and underpaying for the crops. The tenants began falling deeper into debt. They could not leave until they paid off their debt, which was nearly impossible. Although former slaves had been freed, they were still facing many struggles in free life. America’s plan for reconstruction had good intent, but did not give African Americans the equality they deserved.

First, recovery of the southern part got ruined. Second, the dissatisfaction and hatred from the southern. The southern worried northern’s revenge after Lincoln’s assassination. Lastly, the emancipated blacks (Dewitt, 1903). Whites were not ready to treat blacks equally.

Even though many federal officials understood that black sharecroppers (a resident farmer who gives a part of each crop as rent payment) were hit pretty harshly during the Great Depression, African Americans around 60 percent were denied access to unemployment insurance, government grants, social security benefits, elderly poor assistance, and so on. Administered by local politicians within the South, a large number of African Americans where basically not given any of the benefit from the New Deal relief programs. Ultimately further developing the black people’s

so rich White landlords manage to earn more money (African Americans and the New Deal 1). These men had enough money to keep them well for a long period of time, but greed held them in a tight hand, forcing poor Black farmers off lands, leaving them homeless. This was a problem that FDR could have fixed. Franklin also could have also passed the Anti-lynching bill. Lynching can be described as, “to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority” (dictionary.com).

Free Blacks: How Free Were They in the North? During the 1860s, 46% of all free blacks lived in the North. Based on that, many would have reason to believe that the North would be a safe-haven for the free black population. That would be partially true because the abolition of slavery in the North provided some protection. But even though free blacks in the North had some freedoms, blacks lived a very restricted life with little suffrage, discrimination, limits on economic opportunities, and segregation.

In FDR’s initial term he failed to demonstrate to the African Americans he could be considered a friend. Specifically, his initial term was focused on bringing the country out of The Great Depression. In order for his efforts to be successful he could not afford to have Americans divided. Unfortunately, by implementing programs to aid African Americans, without initial progress to the overall conditions of white americans, FDR would have lost the south’s support. For example President Roosevelt opposed the federal anti-lynching legislation.

It even allowed some black farmers to buy and work their own land. Parents sacrificed to send their children to school and a few proudly watch their sons and daughters graduate from

This made it racial discrimination become a big problem again in the South. President Roosevelt was elected into office while this was all happening, but he was too afraid to try and make big changes that supported African Americans because he was afraid that he would lose his southern white supporters.

Evaluating Cruelty: Sharecropping and Slavery “After the Civil War, former slaves sought jobs, and planters sought laborers. The absence of cash or an independent credit system led to the creation of sharecropping” (Pollard para. 1). Sharecropping is the action of allowing workers, called sharecroppers, to work on someone else’s farm. This let former slaves find jobs; however, farmers found loopholes to exploit the former slaves. Because of this, the workers were rarely paid the amount they needed for their needs.

Thesis statement: The two great leaders in the black community debating about the issues that face the Negro race and Du Bois gave a compelling argument by using pathos, logos and ethos to create an essay that will appear to all readers. Outline: This essay will showcase the contradicting philosophies between W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Also, paying close attention to the different types of leadership between the two historic leaders in the black community. Both W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington contributed to and helped shape the future of African Americans.

Introducing Miss Gilly The wrinkled old woman looked up from her pea shelling and gave me a searching look. I had asked if she knew anything about sharecropping. Our class was studying Alabama History and the teacher had instructed us to each write an essay covering one of the topics we discussed. One of the topics we discussed was sharecropping during the Great Depression.

African-American historian W.E.B Dubois illustrated how the Civil War brought the problems of African-American experiences into the spotlight. As a socialist, he argued against the traditional Dunning interpretations and voiced opinions about the failures and benefits of the Civil War era, which he branded as a ‘splendid failure’. The impacts of Civil War era enabled African-Americans to “form their own fraternal organizations, worship in their own churches and embrace the notion of an activist government that promoted and safeguarded the welfare of its citizens.”

The system of racial domination known as "Jim Crow" worked to oppress African Americans economically, socially, and politically through the use of the law and violence. Jim Crow was essentially a series of laws that went against African Americans, a system specifically made to keep blacks segregated in the United States. This almost made it impossible for black people to live peacefully with their newly found "freedom." African Americans were economically, socially and politically abused through the uses of sharecropping, racial segregation, and disenfranchisement in societies. To begin, sharecropping was a type of farming that allowed people to rent small plots of land from landowners in exchange for a portion of their crop during harvesting

This labor system reducued their risk when cotton prices were low and encouraged workers to increase production without costly supervision (Of the people, 467). Which ultimately created another advantage for the workers because they were now being rewarded with a share of the land they worked so hard to harvest within a year 's time. Overall I greatly believe that sharecropping was an acceptable way to help achieve economic freedom, especially for the blacks. They no longer had to do indescribable work that in the end did not benefit them, only the owners of the land that they occupied. They were able to acquire a contract that not only benefited them, with the chance to actually have a sense of "owning" land showing independence, but also benefiting the land-owners with them still earning a profit from the portions of land they rented out to the free

Slavery in America created an upsurge of racial discrimination. This demoralizing practice forced many generations of black “slave” Americans to endure, or more specifically suffer the extortions of white people. They were dehumanized as the very essential criteria for survival in society was eliminated from their lives or even from their dreams. Their identity, their self respect suffered for they were viewed as the “properties” of white people. America gradually became a powerful country