"I, Solomon Bell (freedman), do hereby contract with Thomas Watson, planter, to labor on his plantation for the year 1867. I am to receive one-third of the cotton and corn produced. The said Watson shall furnish land, seed, and tools. I shall obey all reasonable orders and shall not leave the premises without permission." — Sharecropping contract, Mississippi, 1867
The labor system reflected in this contract represented:
- Acheck_circle
A compromise that gave landowners control while denying freedpeople the autonomy of land ownership
- B
Full economic independence for formerly enslaved workers
- C
A federal program supervised by the Freedmen's Bureau
- D
A return to the gang-labor system of antebellum slavery
Explanation
Sharecropping emerged as a compromise: planters retained land and labor control while freedpeople gained limited autonomy, but the system trapped most Black families in cycles of debt and dependency.