Sharecropper

Welcome to Sharecropping Week here at OPOD. A hundred years ago, farming was labor intensive, so large landowners would sublease their property to sharecroppers. These tenant farmers would farm a part of the land, and would give a portion of the crop back to landowner in exchange for rent. Unfortunately, the sharecroppers had not legal protection or rights, and so could be evicted from the land at the landowners whim. In the late 30's, as affordable farm equipment became available like tractors and combines, the need for sharecroppers was eliminated. The picture above is from 1939 in Missouri, and the sharecropper pictured had just been evicted from his tenant farm. He is pictured sitting on the side of the road with his meager possessions after the eviction. There were a large number of sharecroppers evicted that day, and they were all just sitting on the side of the road, not knowing what to do or where to go.