The Effect of Emancipation and Sharecropping on the Tennessee and South Carolina Economies
Abstract: This discussion will provide a narrative history that discusses the development and growing necessity of the sharecropping system in the postbellum South. The discussion will focus specifically on sharecropping in the states of Tennessee and South Carolina and the economic reasons for the shift as well as the economic impact of both emancipation and the development of the sharecropping system on these two states. It will also look at the racial aspect of sharecropping, with many historians viewing the development of the system as a way to keep freedmen oppressed and perpetuate a system of racism in the South. Looking at the development of the sharecropping system and the impacts on the economy help to gain an understanding of the overall economic impacts of emancipation. Narrowing the scope of this discussion to primarily look at two specific states provides a more in depth and specific understanding but also allows a comparison to understand if these impacts were the...