An arrangement that kept people in place
Sharecropping and the furnish system tied labour to the land through debt, and the accounting is documented in plantation ledgers.
Shares and TrainsSection 5 of 5
Shares and trains
Sharecropping, the Great Migration, and the lines north.
Six million people, and the reasons
The Great Migration moved millions north over decades, with the 1927 flood and mechanisation among the documented pushes.
Shares and Trains
The tractor finished what the flood started
Mechanical cotton harvesting removed the labour demand that had held the population in the Delta, and the depopulation follows the machine's arrival.
Shares and Trains
The railroads that carried it
The Illinois Central and its connections ran directly north, which is why the destination cities are the ones they served.
Shares and TrainsEverything in this section
- An arrangement that kept people in placeSharecropping and the furnish system tied labour to the land through debt, and the accounting is documented in plantation ledgers.
- Six million people, and the reasonsThe Great Migration moved millions north over decades, with the 1927 flood and mechanisation among the documented pushes.
- The tractor finished what the flood startedMechanical cotton harvesting removed the labour demand that had held the population in the Delta, and the depopulation follows the machine's arrival.
- The railroads that carried itThe Illinois Central and its connections ran directly north, which is why the destination cities are the ones they served.