Document Set 1: Land and Animal Distribution in the South

“From Slave Labor to Free Labor.”

America’s Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War.

Digital History, University of Houston

 

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/reconstruction/section3/section3_intro.html

 

Read the entire sequence through image 19 in order to answer these questions.

 

1. Why did so few freedpeople (former slaves) become landowners after the Civil War?

 

2. Explain the sharecropping system and why it kept both freedpeople and many

whites (one third of whom were tenant farmers) in a cycle of debt.

 

3. Why did farmers increasingly turn to growing cotton, rather than diversifying

their crops?

 

4. Compare the economic conditions of rice and sugar planters to that of workers

growing cotton. Why were cotton-growers the most oppressed?

 

5. How did conditions change for children after the Civil War?

 

6. What differences existed in the employment of white workers and freedpeople

in the post-war South? What opportunities were closed to freedpeople?

 

7. Who benefited from the political economy of racial bias, tenant farming, and

low wage mill workers?

 

 

“A Poorer South After All.”

The American Civil War: An Environmental View

Jack Temple Kirby, Miami University, for the National Humanities Center

 

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntuseland/essays/amcware.htm

 

Read the web page and respond to these questions.

 

1. How did the actions of Civil War soldiers change the economy of southern

rural life?

 

2. Explain how the “open range” provided small farmers with an inexpensive

source of animal protein. How did this system change following the war?

 

3. What happened to the hog population in parts of Virginia and North Carolina

between 1860 and 1920?

 

4. How did the need to import pork lead to deteriorating health conditions of

Southerners?

 

5. How did sharecropping lead to what the author calls “medical pathology”?

Document Set 2: Over-reliance on Cotton as a Cash Crop

“Boll Weevil Honored.” Today in History: December 11

American Memory, The Library of Congress

 

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec11.html

Follow the link and read the full text.

 

Excerpt from “An Evening in the Smith Home.”

American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers Project, 1936-1940

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html

 

We lived on rented land most of our lives. Pa was a sharecropper, moving from one farm

to another. Like Mattie told you, we rent the little place we have our cows and other stock

on a few miles out here in the country. I never owned a foot of land, but I mean to before I

die. That's why the old lady and me's willing to work so steady now. I want to have a

shelter over our heads and not be dependent on the other fellow. I don't know, though, we

don't save a great deal, but we all work hard all the time. We never would have left the

farm if old Mr. Boll Weevil hadn't come along when he did. Why, he just eat us out of

everything. We held on a few years. We've been here in the Winnsboro Mill seventeen

years. Ten years in this same house. I liked the farm fine when we were making money,

but, as things were, we couldn't get along atall. I like it here in the Winnsboro Mills. I do

get blue sometimes shut in here…

 

Read the rest of the interview with Mr. Tally Smith on his family's decision to

abandon farming for work in a South Carolina textile mill after arrival of the boll

weevil:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field%28DOCID+@lit

%28wpa330120112%29%29

 

Then, search the American Life Histories collection,for the term “boll weevil” and read

these recollections, noting different responses to the boll weevil plague:

“John B. Culbertson,”   https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh002165/

“Women and the Changing Times,” https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh000558/

“Fish, Hominy, and Cotton.” https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh002108/

 

Answer the following questions:

1. The boll weevil infestation had some devastating consequences, but it also

compelled some beneficial changes to the southern economy. What kinds of

changes?

 

2. In the 1920s many farmers were devastated by the boll weevil. What happened

to Mose Austin’s employer as a result?

 

3. The life of Mr. Tally Smith also changed as a consequence of the boll weevil

(see excerpt above). What is his primary goal in life? Did he want to leave his

life as a tenant farmer? How did his family support themselves after they left

the farm?

 

4. How do you think crop diversification could have benefited the land and the farmers?

“July Cotton Drops to New Low Level.” New York Times. June 14, 1921

 

Abstract: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?

res=9F0CE0DB163EEE3ABC4C52DFB066838A639EDE

 

Full text (pdf): http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?

res=9F0CE0DB163EEE3ABC4C52DFB066838A639EDE

 

“Year’s Cotton Crop Lowest in 25 Years.” New York Times. July 2, 1921

 

Abstract: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?

res=9B03E1D8163EEE3ABC4A53DFB166838A639EDE

 

Full text: (pdf): http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?

res=9B03E1D8163EEE3ABC4A53DFB166838A639EDE

 

Many factors influenced the price of cotton on the commodities market, including the

introduction of new synthetic fabrics in the 1920s, speculation, and changes in supply

and demand in the global market for cotton. Read the two articles from the New York

Times to answer the following questions. Note that the first article discusses price

changes in cotton futures for different months. Futures are valued and traded like other

stocks, based on their expected value.

 

1. What events or markets abroad affected cotton prices in the United States?

 

2. How small was the cotton crop in 1921 relative to other years?

 

3. Name three factors within the United States that reduced the cotton crop.

 

4. Explain the situation the tenant farmer faces in the following situation: A

tenant farmer or sharecropper buys on credit what he or she needs to plant next

year’s cotton crop. The cotton crop sells for half the price the farmer expected.

Document Set 2: Over-reliance on Cotton as a Cash Crop

“Boll Weevil Honored.” Today in History: December 11

American Memory, The Library of Congress

 

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec11.html

Follow the link and read the full text.

 

Excerpt from “An Evening in the Smith Home.”

American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers Project, 1936-1940

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html

 

We lived on rented land most of our lives. Pa was a sharecropper, moving from one farm

to another. Like Mattie told you, we rent the little place we have our cows and other stock

on a few miles out here in the country. I never owned a foot of land, but I mean to before I

die. That's why the old lady and me's willing to work so steady now. I want to have a

shelter over our heads and not be dependent on the other fellow. I don't know, though, we

don't save a great deal, but we all work hard all the time. We never would have left the

farm if old Mr. Boll Weevil hadn't come along when he did. Why, he just eat us out of

everything. We held on a few years. We've been here in the Winnsboro Mill seventeen

years. Ten years in this same house. I liked the farm fine when we were making money,

but, as things were, we couldn't get along atall. I like it here in the Winnsboro Mills. I do

get blue sometimes shut in here…

 

Read the rest of the interview with Mr. Tally Smith on his family's decision to

abandon farming for work in a South Carolina textile mill after arrival of the boll

weevil:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpa:@field%28DOCID+@lit

%28wpa330120112%29%29

 

Then, search the American Life Histories collection,for the term “boll weevil” and read

these recollections, noting different responses to the boll weevil plague:

“John B. Culbertson,”   https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh002165/

“Women and the Changing Times,” https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh000558/

“Fish, Hominy, and Cotton.” https://www.loc.gov/item/wpalh002108/

 

Answer the following questions:

1. The boll weevil infestation had some devastating consequences, but it also

compelled some beneficial changes to the southern economy. What kinds of

changes?

 

2. In the 1920s many farmers were devastated by the boll weevil. What happened

to Mose Austin’s employer as a result?

 

3. The life of Mr. Tally Smith also changed as a consequence of the boll weevil

(see excerpt above). What is his primary goal in life? Did he want to leave his

life as a tenant farmer? How did his family support themselves after they left

the farm?

 

4. How do you think crop diversification could have benefited the land and the farmers?

“July Cotton Drops to New Low Level.” New York Times. June 14, 1921

 

Abstract: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?

res=9F0CE0DB163EEE3ABC4C52DFB066838A639EDE

 

Full text (pdf): http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?

res=9F0CE0DB163EEE3ABC4C52DFB066838A639EDE

 

“Year’s Cotton Crop Lowest in 25 Years.” New York Times. July 2, 1921

 

Abstract: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?

res=9B03E1D8163EEE3ABC4A53DFB166838A639EDE

 

Full text: (pdf): http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?

res=9B03E1D8163EEE3ABC4A53DFB166838A639EDE

 

Many factors influenced the price of cotton on the commodities market, including the

introduction of new synthetic fabrics in the 1920s, speculation, and changes in supply

and demand in the global market for cotton. Read the two articles from the New York

Times to answer the following questions. Note that the first article discusses price

changes in cotton futures for different months. Futures are valued and traded like other

stocks, based on their expected value.

 

1. What events or markets abroad affected cotton prices in the United States?

 

2. How small was the cotton crop in 1921 relative to other years?

 

3. Name three factors within the United States that reduced the cotton crop.

 

4. Explain the situation the tenant farmer faces in the following situation: A

tenant farmer or sharecropper buys on credit what he or she needs to plant next

year’s cotton crop. The cotton crop sells for half the price the farmer expected.

Document Set 3: Working Conditions and Union Suppression in Southern Mills

“Civilization in Southern Mills.”

Mother Jones, International Socialist Review. March 1901

 

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/jones/MJ-article.html

 

Mother Jones was a socialist and union organizer at the turn of the century who visited

a variety of southern mills in 1901. Read the linked article, then answer the following

questions:

 

1. Why do you think that Mother Jones uses the terms “slaves” and “serfs” to

refer to the workers in the mills she visits?

 

2. Briefly describe some of the conditions for children in the mills observed by

Mother Jones.

 

3. What conditions prompted the strike of 1896?

 

4. Why did some members of the Alabama legislature repeal the law that

prohibited children of less than twelve years of age from working more than

eight hours a day?

 

5. How did the conditions in the mills affect the health of adults and children?

 

6. Given their desperate situation in the mills, why do you think mill workers

were the primary victims of pellagra?

 

The Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill Strike, 1914-1915

“Developing Titles and Captions for Images from the Smith Scrapbook”

Special Collections & Archives, Georgia State University Library

 

http://www.library.gsu.edu/spcoll/labor/wnp/wnpdocument/fultonbag/TitleAndCaptio

nWritingActivityRevised.pdf

 

Read this background information on the strike:

Despite the early prosperity of the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill, the company was troubled

by periods of labor unrest. A wage dispute resulted in a two-day strike in November 1885.

A second brief strike occurred in August 1897, when white workers protested the hiring of

black women. The 1897 strike was settled after five days. A lengthier strike took place in

1914-1915, triggered by management's disapproval of the growing efforts among the

workers to join the United Textile Workers. Besides the issue of unionization, the strikers

demanded an increase in wages, a 54-hour work week, and a decrease in the use of child

labor. The strike gained national notoriety when it drew the attention of the newly formed

U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations, who sent representatives to Atlanta to gather

testimonies in March 1915. The strike ultimately failed in May of that year.

Excerpt from “History of the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills”

Georgia Institute of Technology Archives

 

http://www.library.gatech.edu/fulton_bag/history.html

 

Open the linked pdf. The photographs in this document were taken by Mrs. E.B.

Smith, a union organizer who was documenting her efforts on behalf of striking mill

workers at the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills in Georgia in 1914-19157. Look at

photographs, read the titles and captions, and skim the authors’ descriptions of the

images. Then answer the following questions.

 

1. What were goals of the strikers at the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill?

 

2. Why do you think that Mrs. E.B. Smith wanted to photograph her work among

the mill workers? If the mill owners had taken photographs, what story do you

think they would have told? Why does Mrs. Smith believe that mill owners

tried to impede her efforts to take photographs?

 

3. Under what conditions are children working at the mills? Why was there an

endless supply of cheap child labor in the state of Georgia at this time?

 

4. What type of housing did mill workers live in? Why were some of them

evicted from their homes? Look closely at a photograph of an eviction and

describe the owner’s household possessions.

 

5. Why do you think that workers resorted to the use of tents to organize their

strike?

 

6. One concern of Mrs. Smith is that the conditions in the mills will lead to a

breakdown in workers’ health. Whom does she worry about most? What

disease concerns her?

 

7. Why do you think this strike failed, and what do you think were the

consequences for the workers?