Essay On Sharecropping In African American Freedmen

Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every person to control his or her own labor and property while political freedom is the freedom to exercise one’s rights as guaranteed under the laws of the country. In 1865 the African American Freedmen were finally given these rights under the 13th Amendment. It is not possible for the Freedmen to become politically free since they are not economically free because of the Vagrancy Act, the effect sharecropping had on their ability to make their own decisions, and the black codes implemented by the Southern States. The Vagrancy Act, passed in 1866, forced into employment any person who appeared to be unemployed or homeless. If these “vagrants” ran away they would be recaptured and would be forced to work for no compensation while wearing ball and chains. At this time, over 4 million African American slaves were just freed from slavery and were in search of jobs and lost family members. All the
This became a new of form of slavery in the South. Many problems emerged from sharecropping. Freedmen were forced into an unending cycle of debt. They had no money to buy tools or seeds, which caused them to borrow supplies from the landowners. The plantation owners got to pick how much they charged for the supplies and what crops they would plant. This took away their economic freedom, freedmen were no longer allowed to decide what they produced to make money. The plantation owners had control over their lives because they owed them money. They influenced their decisions and limited their ability to participate in society. If the plantation owner told them that they could not vote, then they would not. This shows how their lack of economic freedom contributed to the loss of their political freedom. Therefore, this proves that It is not possible to be politically free if you are not economically