The Angel Gabriel

1. The Angel Gabriel Gabriel = God is my strength Serves as a messenger between humans and God His trumpet blast signals the Lord’s return to Earth

2. Sharecropping Troy’s father was a sharecropper. What is a sharecropper? What was life like for sharecroppers in the South? How did the system of sharecropping entrap people?

3. After the abolition of slavery, former slaves desired their own land and the ability to support their own families. But instead of redistributing land according to new social realities, land was returned to its pre-Civil War owners. Sharecropping emerged as a compromise between the old system (gang labor with a white overseer) and the desire for a new system of independence and autonomy.

4. How sharecropping worked: • Large landowners divided their estates into 20 – 50 acre plots farmed by single families • Landowners provided cabins and supplies in exchange for cash crops raised by families What were the benefits of such a system? What were the drawbacks?

5. Georgia, 1910 Number of farms owned by African-American families: Number of farms sharecropped by African-American families: 106,738 16,000

6. Though it was initiated as a contingency plan to help the South weather the transition from slavery to abolition, the sharecropping system persisted for 100 years after the end of the Civil War. Why did it last so long?

7. Reason #1: Exploitation • Sharecroppers (also called tenant farmers) were only allowed to keep 1/3 to 1/2 of the profit earned from the sale of crops. The rest went to the landowner.

8. Reason #2: Debt • Sharecroppers needed food, clothing and necessities year-round, not just when crops were harvested and sold, so landowners would sell sharecroppers food and supplies on credit. • These were often high-interest loans, sometimes as high as 70%. • By the time sharecroppers were paid for their crops, they were already in debt to the landowners; often, the profit from crops wasn’t enough to settle the debt, so the family would be bound to the landlord for another season—thus, the cycle continued.

9. Reason #3: Illiteracy • Because former slaves were illiterate (by force, not by choice), they couldn’t necessarily tally their own debt, or read the terms of their loans. This made it easy for landowners to take advantage of their laborers. • The pressure on tenant farmers to yield large crops meant children were forced to work the family plot instead of go to school.

10. Reason #4: Racism • Sharecropping compounded/was compounded by the problems of Jim Crow Laws, lynching, voter intimidation, and other routine violations of African-Americans’ civil rights. • Sharecropping was problematic for white and black farmers, but it affected black farmers disproportionately. By 1935, 50% of white farmers were landless, and 70% of black farmers were landless.

11. Reason #5: Crop Failures • Drought, flood, insects, frost, hail, high winds, plant diseases, exhaustion of the soil and tenants’ ill health could all contribute to crop failure. • Sometimes crops thrived, but prices were low.

12. Why/how did sharecropping end? • Urban migration • Technological advances in farming that allowed for more work to get done with fewer laborers • Dustbowl

13. Negro League Baseball: 1920 – 1955 Professional baseball leagues comprised of African-American and Latino players.

14. Negro League players mentioned in Fences: Satchel Paige—legendary pitcher; became oldest rookie in the Major Leagues at age 42 “Baseball makes me a second class immortal instead of a second class citizen.” Josh Gibson—considered one of the best catchers and power hitters

15. Jackie Robinson • the first African American to play in Major League Baseball • broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947 • http://thisibelieve.org/essays/fifties/