Sharecropping In Slavery

1)
Black petitioners believed that owning land was essential to the enjoyment of freedom because during the time of slavery, land was equal to power. The more land one owned, generally the more powerful and wealthier.
African American slaves spent countless hours outside working in the fields and maintaining the land for white slave owners. They “made these lands what they were.” They felt that they deserved to be able to own land; “This is our home...we are the only true and loyal people that were found in possession of these land.” When blacks were finally given land after being freed, it was almost synonymous in giving them the same rights as others [whites]. It was a sense of accomplishment after they had worked so hard for some rights, a feat many had thought practically impossible.
2)
It bound the workers to do the same or similar work that they had been doing as slaves. However, they were compensated in the form of receiving part of the crop when the season has ended. They were to “plant, cultivate, and raise under the management control and Superintendence of said Ross, in good faith, a cotton, corn and oat crop,” Ross being comparable to an overseer of a slave plantation. The contract required them to work 10 hour days, and get docked out of their share of the crop if days were missed. The laborers were also held accountable for acting obedient, honest and respectful to the landowner and his property/stock or they will again be docked from their share of the crop. Slavery, in an idea, was very similar. This contract limited the freedom of the laborers because they did not truly “reap all of what they sowed” and were “cheated” out of getting all of what they