Question

Which statement is not true about sharecropping?

A. Merchants and planters often inflated prices and sold inferior products
to Black people because they knew there was no other option for them.
B. Black farmers would rent tracts of land from landowners and provide a
portion of crops in exchange for rent.
C. Sharecropping was a good way for Black people to take advantage of
their agricultural expertise and make a good living for their families.
D. Sharecropping led to a cycle of debt for Black farmers because they had
to wait until the crop was harvested to have the chance at earning
money.

Answer 1

The statement that sharecropping was a good way for Black people to make a good living from their agricultural expertise is false. Sharecropping entrapped many Black farmers in a cycle of debt, controlled their economic mobility, and contributed to the South's delayed economic development.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement that is not true about sharecropping is: C. Sharecropping was a good way for Black people to take advantage of their agricultural expertise and make a good living for their families. This assertion is incorrect because sharecropping often resulted in a cycle of debt for Black farmers. Landowners and merchants exploited the economic vulnerabilities of sharecroppers, inflating prices and providing inferior products. Freed individuals and poor whites, lacking the capital to purchase their own land, resorted to sharecropping, which was structured in a way that favored the landlords and controlled the economic mobility of the tenants.

Instead of improving economic conditions for Black farmers, sharecropping entrenched them further into poverty, as they had to wait for the crop harvest to potentially earn money, and even then, they were often left with scant profits due to their debts. The crop-lien system established a hierarchy where those providing credit were repaid first, leaving laborers with little or nothing. Consequently, the system perpetuated an agricultural backwater in the South, limiting economic development and growth.