Tending the Soil
Sun-up to Sun-down – Life as a Texas Sharecropper
Institute of Texan Cultures presents The Sharecropper Cabin from the Texas Blackland Prairies
About Our Cabin
Truly a Texas treasure, the Institute of Texan Cultures sharecropper cabin is one of our most significant artifacts. Learn about the how ITC acquired a 100 year old cabin and its journey from Navasota County to our exhibit floor.
The History of Sharecropping
After the Civil War in 1865, southern states relying on slave labor to produce their crops had to establish a new labor system such as tenant farming, sharecropping, or contract labor. Sharecropping as a farming method in America was common from 1865 to around the first half of the 20th century. However, it begins to decline in 1910 due to droughts and the mechanization of agricultural equipment.
Lifestyle of Sharecroppers
Read what daily life was like in each of the spaces of our cabin. Our research team has provided a glimpse of how a family may have used the porch, main room, kitchen, and the landscape that the cabin inhabited.
The hard work sharecropping is a theme found in the blues music genre. Learn about key Texas Blues figures through our Spotify playlist and newly digitized archival footage.
