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Tenancy and sharecropping in Brazos and Burleson Counties
Tenancy and sharecropping played a crucial role in the development of the cotton culture of Brazos and Burleson Counties, after slavery. It was a way of life for thousands of farm families, and as miserable as the conditions may have been they persisted. Due to the lack of mechanization, hand labor was the primary means of planting, cultivating, and harvesting the cotton crop. This meant long hours of hard work in the hot Texas summers. The book, From Can See to Can't, by Thad Sitton and Dan Uttley describes the day to day activities of cotton farmers; because they literally worked from when the sun was up enough to see in the morning until it was too dark to see at night. Tenancy and cropping began to diminish in the late 1940s and early 1950s due to improved farm mechanization, in particular, the mechanical cotton harvester. Due to the small and tender nature of a cotton boll, developing a mechanical harvester required years of research and development. But ultimately, the goal was achieved and the need for thousands of low paid tenants and croppers was no longer necessary.
Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).