ABSTRACT
The Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment destroyed the institution of slavery that had been the cornerstone of the Southern economy for nearly two centuries. However, the region's postwar reconstruction left intact the region's reliance on cotton. Securing the continued survival of King Cotton and the economic supremacy of white landowners required a new labor force. Sharecropping emerged out of these reciprocal crises as a form of compromise between landowner and laborer. Sharecropping also provided African-Americans the ability to use their family as the basic unit of agricultural labor. The system of sharecropping, although shaped by the efforts by African-Americans to create autonomy and independence, heavily favored Southern white landowners. Rental agreements forced sharecroppers to work long hours and endure poor living conditions if they wanted to survive.
