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Life in the South. Small Farmers and the Rural Poor Most white southerners were either small farmers without slaves or planters with a handful of slaves. Most white southerners fit into one of four categories : yeomen , tenant farmers , the rural poor , or plantation owners .
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Life in the South • Small Farmers and the Rural Poor • Most white southerners were either small farmerswithout slaves or planters with a handful of slaves. • Most white southerners fit into one of four categories: yeomen, tenant farmers, the rural poor, or plantation owners. • Yeomen, or farmers who did not have slaves, were the largest group of whites in the South. • Most yeomen owned land and lived in the Upper South or the hilly rural areas of the Deep South. • The farm ranged from 50 to 200 acres and they grew crops for both for their own use and to sell and trade. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
Life in the South • Most Southern whites lived in small homes or cottages built of wood and plaster. Later many lived in one-story frame houses or log cabins. • Some southern whites rented land or worked as tenant farmers on landlord’s estates. • The rural poor lived in crude cabins in wooded areas where they could clear a few trees, plant some corn, and keep a hog or a cow. They fished & hunted for food. • The poor people of the rural South were fiercely independent. They refused to take any job that even looked like slave work. They were looked down on by other whites, but they were very proud of being self-sufficient. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
Life in the South • Plantations • A large plantation might cover several thousand acres. • The plantation owners lived in comfortable houses and measured their wealth by the number of slaves they controlled and by their possessions. • A small group of plantation owners in the South – about 12% of the population – owned more than half of the slaves. • About half of the planters had fewer than 5 slaves. • A few free African Americans owned slaves. Most often these slaveholders purchased their own family members in order to free them. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
Life in the South • The main goal for large plantation owners was to earn profits. • Plantations had fixed costs – regular expenses such as housing and feeding workers and maintaining cotton gins and other equipment. • Cotton pricesvaried from season to season, depending on the market. • Planters sold their cotton to agents in cities such as New Orleans, Charleston, Mobile and Savannah. • The agents at the cotton exchanges extended credit to the planters and held the cotton until the price went up again. • The planters were always in debt because they didn’t get paid until the agents sold the cotton. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
Cotton Exchanges Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
Life in the South • Plantation Wives • The wife of the plantation owner was in charge of the house slaves and took care of them when they got sick. • She also supervised the buildings and took care of the fruit and vegetable gardens. • Some served as accountants, keeping the plantation’s financial records. • Life was lonely and difficult for women on the plantation. • It was dangerous for some women in the Western areas of Alabama and Mississippi. • Planters would travel and leave their wives alone on the plantation for long periods of time. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
Life in the South • Work on the Plantation • Large plantations needed many different kinds of workers. • Domestic slaves worked in the house, cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, sewing and serving meals. • Other slaves were trained as blacksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers, or weavers. • Some worked in the pastures, tending horses, cows, sheep, and pigs. • Most slaves were field hands, who worked from sunrise to sunset planting, cultivating, and picking cotton and other crops. • They were supervised by an overseer – the plantation manager. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
Returning From The Field Slavery in America • Most slaves worked as field hands on cotton plantations. The photo captures the physical and mental fatigue of a woman as she returns from a day's work in the field picking cotton. Her dress is as worn as her face, and though she is weary she is determined. Notice the woman's fatigue, the character of her face, her strong hands, the sturdy but much used shoe, and the beaten path she trods.
Slaves were responsible for clearing land and planting and harvesting crops. An African-American woman is shown here balancing a basket of cotton on her head on a farm in Augusta, Georgia. (1870)
This is a young African American child working in a cotton field. Although this photograph was taken after the end of slavery (1885) the plight of African Americans improved very little in the American South. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
Some slaves became skilled workers, such as carpenters or blacksmiths. The blacksmith was considered a skilled craftsman and therefore more valuable as a slave than field hands, which included women and young children.
City Life and Education • City Life • Although the South was primarily an agricultural region there were several large cities by the mid-1800s. • The population of Southern cities included white city dwellers, some enslaved workers, and many of the South’s free African Americans. • The cities provided free African Americans with opportunities to form their own communities. • African American barbers, carpenters, and small traders offered their services. • They also founded their own churches and institutions. • In New Orleans, many of them were well educated and prosperous and opened an opera company. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
City Life and Education • Although some free African Americans prospered in the cities, their lives were far from secure. • Between 1830 and 1860, Southern states passed laws that limited the rights of free African Americans. • Most states would not allow them to migrate from other states. • They were denied an equal share in economic and political life. • Education • Plantation owners and those that could afford to do so often sent their children to private schools. • They went 6 days a week and studied the Bible, classical literature, math, religion, Greek, Latin and public speaking. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
City Life and Education • In smaller rural areas, classes met in small schoolhouses or in church buildings. • School was only 3 to 4 months and due to poverty, few books were available to study. • No statewide public school system existed yet. But cities such as Charleston, Louisville, and Mobile did establish excellent public schools. • By the mid-1800s, education was growing. Hundreds of public schools were operating in North Carolina by 1860. • Many states in the South also had charity schools for students whose parents could not afford to pay. • The South lagged behind other areas of the country in literacy, the number of people who can read and write. • They believed education was a private not a state matter and didn’t spend much money on education. Ch 9 Sec 2 Life in the South
