The Emancipation Proclamation signaled an end to oppression for some, but not necessarily an end to depression. Many former slaves remained in the South, where they and generations to follow supplied the labor for the cotton industry. Working in the cotton fields was their vocation; it was what was expected of them by others and themselves. Even into the twentieth century, working in the cotton fields was a major means for some African Americans in the South to provide the family livelihood. But it was not an easy life. In Enduring Years, Billie G. Griffin, a migrant cotton picker, opens the...