Reconstruction - economic
Sharecropping was a system that started after the civil war. Because slaves had been freed there was a lot of work to be done on farms and owners of plantations would hire both whites and blacks to do work on a section of their land. The pay to that person would be the benefits of a section of that section of land they worked on once the crops were sold. The smart thing to do in this system was to plant cash crops such as cotton and tobacco so that you would at least get a chunk of change to help get you by. This was not at all a good job, and the people who did this job had nothing and were completely broke. Some even ended up owing money in the end because of the rent they had to spend and food they ate. For those people, this system was almost worse then slavery because just the same you were in debt to that person and once you were indebted you probably would be for years, or the rest of your life.