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"Sharecropper,"
and sometimes just "Ocropper,ı" is not a happy term in
the language and literature of East
Texas or the South. It identifies persons who were perpetually
poor, sometimes illiterate, always at the bottom of the socio-economic
scale.
That wasnıt always the case. Before the Civil War, most people who
worked the land, and that was most of the people, worked land they
owned. That was especially true in East
Texas because of generous land grants from the Mexican government,
the Republic
of Texas, and even after statehood. An immigrant in Mexican
Texas received a labor, or 177 acres, if a farmer, and a league,
or 4400 acres, if a stock raiser. Those who came to Texas during
its Revolution received a headright of 640 acres just for arriving,
plus 320 acres for each three-monthıs service in the army. Many
additional acres were shed by the government in payment of debts
and as a reward for immigration until the Civil War.
The war changed many things, among them, who owned what. Many Texans
never returned from the war, some killed, some relocated to other
states or nations. Their land was sold for taxes, and so was the
land of some who returned without funds to pay their taxes. By the
1870s, as many as 70 percent worked land they did not own. They
became sharecroppers. This is how it worked: the land owner provided
land for farming, shelter for the farmer and his family, equipment
such as mules, plows, seeds, and, most importantly, credit for living
expenses until the harvest. The sharecropper provided his only resource,
his labor. When they settled up, the landowner received three-fourths
of the yield and the sharecropper one fourth.
On its face, this seems fair, considering the lopsided investment
of the landowner. But the sharecropper had to pay back the "credit"
for his living expenses, and most of the time this required all
he had earned. Possibly, he owed even more. This was easy to arrange
by "fixing" the prices. So the sharecropper had little
choice but to remain on the place and do it all over again next
year and try to produce more so he could get out of debt, but nearly
always finding the same debt waiting at the end of the row. Development
of oil, railroading, and especially sawmilling industries provided
some with an alternative, but then they often found similar circumstances
in the "company store" and salaries paid in chit and script.
What broke the system was World
War II. Uncle Sam sent millions an invitation to other duty
they could not refuse; others made their way to jobs in shipyards
and other defense industries. After the war the G.I. Bill provided
previously unimagined educational opportunities. Once out of the
system, few went back.
All
Things Historical May
26-June 1, 2002 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
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