Final answer:
Sharecropping was a system where freed individuals and landless whites farmed rented land and paid the rent with a portion of their crops. The crop-lien system linked to sharecropping placed sharecroppers in a cycle of debt, as they paid high interest rates on supplies and were the last to be paid from their own harvest, trapping many in persistent poverty.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sharecropping was a system that became prevalent in the Southern United States after the Civil War. Formerly enslaved individuals, and some landless white citizens, turned to sharecropping as a means to work the land on plantations where they previously had been enslaved or on other farms. Sharecroppers paid the rent for the land they farmed by giving a portion of the crops they grew, typically as much as half of their harvest, to the landowner. This arrangement often favored the landowners and kept sharecroppers in a cycle of debt and dependence.
Sharecropping was closely linked with the crop-lien system, where sharecroppers bought seeds and supplies on credit, and were legally liable for these debts. The system enforced a hierarchy of payment that prioritized landowners, merchants, and banks over the laborers at harvest time. Consequently, the cotton economy and other cash crops kept many in poverty due to the ongoing indebtedness of sharecroppers.
The lack of opportunity to purchase land forced many former slaves and impoverished whites to enter sharecropping arrangements. Despite the potential given by the "Forty Acres and a Mule" promise, most were unable to achieve independent livelihoods. The injustice of sharecropping, with its severe interest rates and high debts, often re-enslaved individuals economically to the landowners.