African Americans in the South and Sharecropping

Students learn about what life was like for African Americans in the South after Reconstruction and how prejudice, poverty, violence, and segregation affected them. Then they learn about sharecropping and compare this system of farming to slavery.

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Here are the teacher pack items for African Americans in the South and Sharecropping:

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Overview

In this experience, students learn about what life was like for African Americans in the South after Reconstruction and how prejudice, poverty, violence, and segregation affected them. Then they learn about sharecropping and compare this system of farming to slavery.

Students will work in small groups for scene 2 through scene 4.

Objectives:

Explain how the rights of African Americans were restricted in the South after Reconstruction.
Explain why sharecropping led to a cycle of poverty.

Although slavery had been abolished with the Thirteenth Amendment, freed slaves did not gain equality in the South. Reconstruction laws were passed to try to improve the lives of the newly free African Americans, but they still suffered from poverty, homelessness, and unemployment.

Photograph of a man sitting on wooden steps

Freed Slave Living in Texas, 1939

Objectives:

Explain how the rights of African Americans were restricted in the South after Reconstruction.
Explain why sharecropping led to a cycle of poverty.

What was life like for freed slaves living in the South at the end of the Reconstruction era? Describe it in a word or short phrase in the word cloud below. To list multiple items, separate them with a comma, like this: South, North.

Post your answer

Students’ answers will vary but could include: segregation, poverty, unequal education.

Divide students into their small groups for the next three scenes. When everyone is ready to continue, unlock the next scene.