(Image of Sharecropper Account Book [manuscript], 1866-1868. Catalog Record)This account book, kept on an unidentified Georgia plantation in the mid-1860s, features accounts for over fifty Black sharecroppers. Sharecropping families were frequently trapped in a cycle of debt due to laws restricting sale of sharecropped goods on former plantations and unethical practices by southern planters. On this specific Georgia plantation, Black laborers are recorded buying a variety of goods including almanacs, spices, candy, cheese, alcohol, and more. Several workers purchased banjos and strings, fiddle screws, violin strings, and a jaw harp, indicating that music survived in the sharecropping environment. The structure of sharecropping ultimately suppressed the freedom of many freed people.
