"Slavery by Another Name"
After the Civil War, African Americans gained freedom and the U.S. government abolished slavery with the thirteenth amendment. While slavery as America knew it went away, forced labor and dependence to Whites persisted. Former enslavers required labor to keep their failing plantations afloat. Sharecropping as an agricultural system replaced slavery, keeping many African Americans in financial dependence to their former oppressors.
"Articles of Agreement"
In a bid to keep their businesses alive, former enslavers like the Winthrop family offered contracts like this one (1871) to African Americans. Sharecropping contracts laid out the terms of renting land to African Americans in exchange that they produce a cash crop like cotton as payment. However, crop failure, infrequent opportunities to make payments, and harsh terms kept African Americans in a vicious cycle of debt. Notice the X’s over the signatures on the back. It informs us of the low literacy rate of African Americans because they could not sign their names. In addition, it makes one wonder if contractors accurately relayed the contents to them.
"Sharecropping contracts"
These sharecropping contracts come from the Van Brunt family of Iamonia, Florida just outside of Tallahassee and date to the 1910s. How are they different from the Winthrop’s contract? This one was printed. It has lines to fill in blanks. It can be reasoned local governments created a standardized form due to the prevalence of sharecropping in Tallahassee and its surrounding communities. In fact, Van Brunt scratched out Thomasville and replaced it with “Miccosukee, Fla.” Furthermore, Randall Hayes, one of the contracted parties, appears to have signed his name.
"Day book"
This ledger originated from a general store owned and operated by R.F. Van Brunt who also owned a plantation. The ledger helps us understand the networks of credit that suspended sharecropping and plantations. Many sharecropping communities were “cash poor” by this time. The Van Brunt store sold goods to sharecroppers on credit, permitting several forms of repayment including cash, labor, and cotton. In addition to the contracts themselves, stores owned by plantation families served as another nexus in the web of credit.