Objective To discuss sharecropping and the end of

Objective: To discuss sharecropping and the end of Reconstruction. Do Now: p. 529 I. What were some suggestions by made by Radical Republicans to help freedmen? • give each freedman 40 acres of land a mule • break up plantations and redistribute the land to freedmen II. In the end, what did freedmen receive? • “nothing but freedom” III. What problem did large planters face? • they could no longer rely on slave labor to work on their plantations

· Some Radical Republicans wanted to give each A Cycle of Poverty freedman “ 40 acres and a mule”. However, all the freedmen were given was their freedom. Sharecropper - farmer who works part of the land gives the landowner part of the harvest Southern sharecropper picking cotton.

How did sharecropping work? · Freedmen would farm land belonging to white owners, oftentimes their old masters. Plantation Land worked by sharecroppers. · Freedmen would pay rent for the land they farmed by giving the landowner a percentage of their crops. · In addition, freedmen would purchase seed, tools, and other supplies from the landowner. * 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.

Sharecropping

Tenancy & the Crop Lien System Furnishing Merchant § Loan tools and seed up to 60% interest to tenant farmer to plant spring crop. § Farmer also secures food, clothing, and other necessities on credit from merchant until the harvest. § Merchant holds “lien” {mortgage} on part of tenant’s future crops as repayment of debt. Tenant Farmer § Plants crop, harvests in autumn. § Turns over up to ½ of crop to land owner as payment of rent. § Tenant gives remainder of crop to merchant in payment of debt. Landowner § Rents land to tenant in exchange for ¼ to ½ of tenant farmer’s future crop.

Sharecropping Amelia Robinson & Thomas Chatmon, 1: 59 Amelia with family and first husband. Amelia as a civil rights activist in Selma, Alabama. Amelia Robinson, Tuskeegee AL, 2001.

1876 Presidential Tickets

Election of 1876 · Neither candidate, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes or Democrat Samuel Tilden, had enough electoral votes to win the election.

The Political Crisis of 1877 « “Corrupt Bargain” Part II?

A Political Crisis: The “Compromise” of 1877 · A special commission of Congress awarded the election to Hayes, who promptly ended Reconstruction.

Hayes Prevails Sammy Tilden—Boo-Hoo! Ruthy Hayes’s got my Presidency, and he won’t give it to me!

· Southerners could now vote again, and federal troops were removed from the South.

Separate But Not Equal Voting Restrictions: · Poll taxes and literacy tests were used to prevent freedmen from voting.

Black & White Political Participation

Grandfather Clause • In order to help poor, illiterate whites to vote, a grandfather clause was passed. • It stated that if a voter’s father or grandfather was eligible to vote on January 1, 1867, they did not have to take a literacy test. • This allowed whites to vote, but not freedmen. Dr. Manassa Thomas Pope was able to receive a voter registration card because his parents had been freed prior to 1867. He was one of only seven black voters in Raleigh and one of 31 in all of Wake County, NC.

Jim Crow Laws - laws passed by southerners to segregate public places, such as schools, restaurants, theaters, trains, hospitals, water fountains, and cemeteries. The "Jim Crow" figure was a fixture of the minstrel shows that toured the South; a white man made up as a black man sang and mimicked stereotypical behavior in the name of comedy. Jump Jim Crow, Bob Ekstrand, 2: 05 Get Off the Sidewalk Charles Gratton, 2: 17

Jump Jim Crow Chorus: Weel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb'ry time I weel about and jump Jim Crow. Verse 1 Come listen all you galls and boys I's jist from Tuckyhoe, I'm going to sing a little song, my name's Jim Crow, (chorus) Verse 2 I went down to de riber, I didn't mean to stay, But dere I see so many galls, I couldn't get away. (chorus) Verse 3 Oh I'm a roarer on de fiddle, and down in old Virginny, They say I play de skyentific like Massa Pagannini. (chorus) Verse 4 I cut so many munky shines, I dance de galloppade; An' w'en I done, I res' my head, on shubble, hoe or spade. (chorus)

Chorus: Weel about and turn about and do jis so, Eb'ry time I weel about and jump Jim Crow. Verse 5 I met Miss Dina Scrub one day, I gib her sich a buss; An' den she turn an' slap my face, an' make a mighty fuss. (chorus) Verse 6 De udder gals dey 'gin to fight, I tel'd dem wait a bit; I'd hab dem all, jis one by one, as I tourt fit. (chorus) Verse 7 I wip de lion ob de west, I eat de alligator; I put more water in my mouf, den boil ten load ob 'tator. (chorus) Verse 8 De way dey bake de hoe cake, Virginny nebber tire; Dey put de doe upon de foot, an' stick 'em in de fire. (chorus)

Sample Jim Crow Laws Florida: The schools for white children and the schools for negro children shall be conducted separately. Virginia: Any public hall, theatre, opera house, motion picture show or place of public entertainment which is attended by both white and colored persons shall separate the white race and the colored race. Maryland: All railroad companies are hereby required to provide separate cars or coaches for the travel and transportation of the white and colored passengers. Louisiana: Any person. . . who shall rent any part of any such building to a negro person or a negro family when such building is already in whole or in part in occupancy by a white person or white family shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Florida: All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.

Plessy v. Ferguson - The Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal as long as facilities were “separate but equal”. This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record from the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana, and was argued by counsel. On consideration whereof, It is now here ordered and adjudged by this Court that the judgement of the said Supreme Court, in this cause, be and the same is hereby, affirmed with costs.