Sharecropping

Definition

This was an agricultural system that emerged after the Civil War, where landowners allowed tenants to use their land in exchange for a share of the crops produced.

Related terms

Tenant Farming: An agricultural production system where landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management while tenants contribute their labor along with at times varying amounts of capital and management.

Crop Lien System: A credit system used by farmers to buy supplies against future crop yields as collateral.

Freedmen's Bureau: A U.S. federal government agency established in 1865 to aid freed slaves (freedmen) in the South during the Reconstruction era.