What is the sharecropping system? What role did it play in the post-Civil War economy of the South? Who were the sharecroppers? Who employed them? How were they paid? To answer these questions, kids examine a series of sharecropper contracts and then craft a five-sentence paragraph that describes sharecropping and explains how the system affected the life of African Americans in the South.

Concepts

sharecropping, civil war, primary sources, primary source analysis

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Access and show the sharecroppers video (listed in step 3) to provide an context for the lesson

Classroom Considerations

• The lesson presumes class members have experience reading and analyzing primary source documents
• The lesson is designed to follow a study of the post-Civil War period and the economic challenges the South faced during the Reconstruction Era

Pros

• The five-page resource includes background information for instructors and a step-by-step plan

Cons

• Instructors must provide their own transcriptions for the primary source documents
• Groups are not provided with any focus or discussion questions to help them analyze the primary source documents

Common Core

RI.4.1 RI.4.2 RI.4.10 RI.5.1 RI.5.2 RH.6-8.2