Traces the culture of sharecropping - crucial to understanding life in the southern United States - from Emancipation to the twenty-first century. By reading dozens of works of literature in their historical context, David Davis demonstrates how sharecropping emerged, endured for a century, and continues to resonate in American culture.

Traces the culture of sharecropping - crucial to understanding life in the southern United States - from Emancipation to the twenty-first century. By reading dozens of works of literature in their historical context, David Davis demonstrates how sharecropping emerged, endured for a century, and continues to resonate in American culture.