Here is an interesting informational video about the strike of 1939.
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=146043
I am finding a lot of information but still having trouble finding primary sources.....
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Paper Topic?
I've been looking into the topic of sharecropping. I found that there was a sharecroppers strike in 1939 in southeast Missouri. This was started when the Agricultural Adjustment Act was created from the New Deal. There was a loophole in this Act that allowed farmers to keep government money they owed to sharecroppers. The organizer, Owen H. Whitfield had a significant influence in the strike.
Butlercountyhistory.org says, "Owen Whitfield was a sharecropper and Vice President of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, which was dedicated to creating better conditions for farm workers. Reverend Whitfield always said “Take your eye’s out of the sky, cause somebody is stealing your bread”. He convinced the other sharecroppers, that this demonstration would draw public attention to their plight. "
The Butler County history website has very interesting facts about how the community came about. Here it says,
"Day after day, the sharecroppers remained by the roadside, huddling in tents, some with only old iron cook stoves to warm them. The demonstration began to attract national attention and to embarrass the state government. Reporters and photographers from major newspapers flocked to the Bootheel to follow the crisis. A professor of history at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri went to visit the demonstrators and came away horrified. When he described what he had seen to his classes, students gave up their spring prom and donated the money to help the sharecroppers. Activist Fannie Cook organized a committee of citizens to send relief to the protesters. Cook’s committee along with the Lincoln University students donated money so that the sharecroppers, led by Owen Whitfield, could buy a parcel of land: 93 acres near Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Several hundred both black and white sharecroppers moved to the site, which came to be known as “Cropperville”.
I think it would be interesting to write my research paper about a community that was built from a labor movement. I have not looked for primary sources or looked on libraries, so I don't know how much credible resources I will be able to find. I think this will be most challenging.
Butlercountyhistory.org says, "Owen Whitfield was a sharecropper and Vice President of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, which was dedicated to creating better conditions for farm workers. Reverend Whitfield always said “Take your eye’s out of the sky, cause somebody is stealing your bread”. He convinced the other sharecroppers, that this demonstration would draw public attention to their plight. "
The Butler County history website has very interesting facts about how the community came about. Here it says,
"Day after day, the sharecroppers remained by the roadside, huddling in tents, some with only old iron cook stoves to warm them. The demonstration began to attract national attention and to embarrass the state government. Reporters and photographers from major newspapers flocked to the Bootheel to follow the crisis. A professor of history at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri went to visit the demonstrators and came away horrified. When he described what he had seen to his classes, students gave up their spring prom and donated the money to help the sharecroppers. Activist Fannie Cook organized a committee of citizens to send relief to the protesters. Cook’s committee along with the Lincoln University students donated money so that the sharecroppers, led by Owen Whitfield, could buy a parcel of land: 93 acres near Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Several hundred both black and white sharecroppers moved to the site, which came to be known as “Cropperville”.
I think it would be interesting to write my research paper about a community that was built from a labor movement. I have not looked for primary sources or looked on libraries, so I don't know how much credible resources I will be able to find. I think this will be most challenging.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
First Blog
I just joined the class last week and I am just now starting my blog. I am an Elementary Education major with a History minor. The time period I am most interested in the 60's/70's time period. I love learning about Vietnam. THe "Hippie" era and Civil Rights Movement is interesting to me. I am a junior and have some experience with history classes. I have taken a few but nothing too in depth. I have never worked with archives but I have worked with textbooks!
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