9. Sharecropping Came To Dominate
With only a tiny fraction of freed slaves owning land and therefore having any means to economic autonomy and self-sufficiency, the vast majority were forced to live under a system that replicated slavery in everything but name.
Many of the freed African Americans lived in former slave quarters. Instead of receiving wages for their work, they received a portion of the crops that they grew. Meanwhile, the plantation owner made money off of the crops that they owed him and engaged in some creative accounting practices to make sure that the workers remained in perpetual debt.
