African American Opposition - Economic Flashcards
What were the dates of the Freedman’s Bureau?
1865-1872
How effective was the Freedman’s Bureau?
Ineffective - they were not successful in accomplishing their goals of education African American children
How many African American children were still illiterate by 1890?
65% compared to 15% of White children
What was sharecropping?
Wealthy white landowners would rent out small tenancies between 30 and 50 acres of a plantation in return for 50% of the crop
How might African Americans have ended up with less than the 50% of crops they harvested
They required tools and animals to help farm their tenancies, so would have to give up more of their crop to their wealthy landlords
How did White Southerners end up with land following the end of the Civil War?
Andrew Johnson handed out amnesties - giving the land back to the white owners from whom it had originally been confiscated
How would the newly freed African Americans financially support their sharecropping
They were forced to borrow money at crippling interest rates in order to provide for themselves
What was the crop-lein system?
Lenders often forced their black borrowers to only farm cotton as they believed it was the most reliable to sell - which led to monoculture farming as a result of the one crop economy of cotton
How much of African American farmland was planted in crops besides cotton or corn?
3.7%
What was the Boll Weevil?
A pest that spread across southern states from Mexico in 1892 damaging the cotton crop
Why did African Americans find it difficult to find jobs in industry?
Discrimination from white employers, and strong opposition from white workers who feared of African Americans stealing their jobs
How much land was still subjected to sharecropping in the gilded age?
75%
