AAAS 207 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Southern Tenant Farmers Union, Sharecropping
16 Sep 2016
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Notes 7-25-16
Monday, July 25, 2016
12:48 PM
● Dramatic act of defiance
● Land in the Northern tip of the Mississippi Delta
● Swampland was cleared for farming because of the rich soil over there
● Children and Pregnant women worked the field
● Cycle of debt, sharecroppers never got out of debt
● Owen Whitfield challenged the poor pay that he received
● Arkansas: 1934, Southern Tenant Farmers Union
● 1935: First successful strike
● Thad Snow: owned a plantation, invited the Union to come organize on the plantation
● FSA founded La Forge
● STFU merged with CIO; tension between Communists and Socialists
● After it was shown in the movies, people were quick to feel sympathy
● Whitfield had to flee to St. Louis because of death threats
● St. Louis sent people to help with the sharecroppers
● The Whitfield family later fleed La Forge for St. Louis
● Highway was declared a health hazard, people were moved in to essentially concentration
camps
● Cropperville: Starvation, Red Cross refused to help
● FSA built about 600 homes for evicted workers, with electricity and all
● The FSA segregated the neighborhoods, 7 for white farmers, and 3 for black farmers
● People in Cropperville were deemed ineligible for this; conditions improved
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Document Summary
Land in the northern tip of the mississippi delta. Swampland was cleared for farming because of the rich soil over there. Children and pregnant women worked the field. Cycle of debt, sharecroppers never got out of debt. Owen whitfield challenged the poor pay that he received. Thad snow: owned a plantation, invited the union to come organize on the plantation. Stfu merged with cio; tension between communists and socialists. After it was shown in the movies, people were quick to feel sympathy. Whitfield had to flee to st. louis because of death threats. St. louis sent people to help with the sharecroppers. The whitfield family later fleed la forge for st. louis. Highway was declared a health hazard, people were moved in to essentially concentration camps. Cropperville: starvation, red cross refused to help. Fsa built about 600 homes for evicted workers, with electricity and all. The fsa segregated the neighborhoods, 7 for white farmers, and 3 for black farmers.
