Question

Which of the following describes how sharecropping is introduced in the text?

A. as a successful initiative developed by the Freedmen Bureau
B. as one of the few jobs that freedmen were able to get
C. as a way for white people to continue slavery in the South
D. as a necessary part of America’s agricultural industry.

Paragraph text to help find answer:
The Freedmen’s Bureau worked to set up schools and help former slaves find lost family members. The Bureau also tried to help freedmen get jobs. Because many freedmen had not had the opportunity to learn or develop many skills when they were slaves, they were often only able to get jobs working on plantations where crops were grown. This meant that sometimes former slaves would end up working for the same families who had enslaved them. In exchange for a share of the harvest, freedmen would work on land owned by wealthy white people. This practice became known as sharecropping. The Freedmen’s Bureau wanted the freedmen to receive better treatment when sharecropping. They offered suggestions for agreements between sharecroppers and landowners. These suggestions included giving sharecroppers the holidays off and requiring landowners to give “good and kind treatment” to sharecroppers. However, this ideal2 was not usually achieved. Sharecropping contracts were often unfairly designed to keep poor sharecroppers poor. Many sharecroppers experienced bad treatment. Sharecroppers were not always given the promised portions of the crops they helped harvest, or they were not allowed to sell their share to anyone besides the landowner. Landowners sometimes sold sharecroppers seeds, shelter, and food for outrageous3 prices, slowly putting the borrowers into debt. Those who could not pay off their debt found that they could not leave the plantation until they did. In this way, many black sharecroppers found themselves enslaved once again. For those who had signed contracts with their former masters, this new system was especially painful.
By the 1880s, some poor white farmers also started participating in the practice of sharecropping. Sharecropping remained a major part of agriculture4 in America until the 1930s.

Answer 1

B. as one of the few jobs that freedmen were able to get.

Step-by-step explanation:

The text states that “many freedmen had not had the opportunity to learn or develop many skills when they were slaves, they were often only able to get jobs working on plantations where crops were grown. This meant that sometimes former slaves would end up working for the same families who had enslaved them.” This clearly shows that sharecropping was one of the few jobs that freedmen were able to get.