After the Civil War, thousands of slaves and white people didn't have any land because they couldn't afford it. They couldn't purchase seeds, animals, land, or equipment to begin farming again. Farm owners couldn't afford as many workers. The Union had left the South in a terrible economic spot. Most of Georgia's land was burned and damaged, nothing was easy. The owners of the land needed people who wouldn't be paid until the crop was harvested. A lot of landowners turned there land into small sections and started a tenant system. Many of the now free black people became tenant farmers and sharecroppers. Tenant farmers usually paid the owner for the land and the house. They owned all of the crops they planted and made decisions for themselves. After the crop was harvested, the tenants would sell it and with that, he would pay the landowner. Sharecroppers didn't own really anything. They borrowed all of the supplies, land, and livestock they needed from the landowners. Sharecroppers usually had their entire family working in the fields. They had no control over which crops they had to plant or how they got sold. After they harvested the crop, the landowner would sell it and put the money in the sharecroppers account. Most sharecroppers bought everything they needed on credit. They hoped to make enough money in the harvest to pay off the debt. By 1890, one out of every three white farmers were sharecroppers or tenants and three out of four blacks were sharecroppers or tenants.
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