The city economic development greatly depends on the laborers of the cotton field. Without the people of the cotton field, there would be no production for cotton. No cotton picking would be detrimental to the economy. The generations of families that lived in this city all came from families of cotton pickers, the older generations started to pick cotton at very young ages and drop out of school at very young ages to work for the farming agencies. The crop farmers pushed that education was not important, generationally that is apparent in the families now.
People tend to migrate in other places because they cannot find jobs for their families. They are finding jobs in other places to provide for their family and the migration causes the over population in highly urbanized areas in the country. Informal settling is the only option of workers that cannot afford to rent a decent house near their work place. Most of the informal settlements are located near factories or a workplace (Understanding your Informal Settlements, n.d.). In owning property, there are many reasons why it will make everyone’s life easier.
Campbell. Beyond Massa. Pg 61 The author reveals the reason behind some of the slaves being given higher positions in society as ‘elite slaves’ was because there were never enough white plantation managers on the Caribbean sugar estates. This circumstance occurred because many of the white plantation owners choose to live abroad as absentees. Management used the privileged elite labors to make up for the lack of white supervisorial groups.
The novel Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, written by Mildred D. Taylor, is based on the time after the Civil War. Although slavery was officially abolished, the book’s setting is a town with a lot of racial tension between the black and white people. Most of the white characters are corrupt, but there are a few white characters who are respectful to everyone regardless of their skin color. These non-corrupt characters encountered many problems among the other white characters, and are even untrusted by the black characters. While many white characters were ill-hearted, there were a couple characters who treated the black families fairly.
However, women were still treated similar too property. John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men was set during the Great Depression, where it featured two protagonists through their journey to achieve their dreams. However, the minor supporting characters were the ones who suffered from social discrimination because of the historical, economic, and political forces during that period.
This severely impacted the economy as it was in crisis and white slave owners did not have any slaves to serve them on plantations. It is argued that Reconstruction had more disadvantages to black Americans than advantages since the deep rooted racism in the south controlled all affairs as they were members of Congress, the Supreme Court and government. Land renting began in 1865 in the form of sharecropping. Landowners would divide large plantations into farms that were 30-40 acres and half of the crop produced on the farm would be used as a payment for the rent of the farm. However, post abolition, many slaves did not have enough money to be able to subsidize this which meant that now former slaves would have to live in
Poor people that couldn’t get work in their country they were born in or simply home. Poor people who didn’t get enough money to feed his/her family. So they used the illegal immigration to go to a foreign country, which will give him/her enough money and enough food. This type worked for some of the immigrants. They passed the borders and are now working with a good wage.
So, the Northerners depended on factories. It was in these factories that the cotton from the South could be developed. The factories contained machines run by the waterways that would perform tasks like “...cloth making, such as spinning. (p.383)” Workers were also needed to run the machines. But, since farming was so difficult with little suitable soil, many “...people were willing to leave their farms to find work elsewhere.
Southern Slaves and Northern Laborers had many different experiences, even though they were both considered workers. Their compensation, working hours, working conditions, and consequences for breaking rules varied. In the end, the life of a Southern Slave was, mainly, harder than the life of a Northern Laborer. First off, Southern Slaves probably had better compensation than Northern Laborers. Although Northern Laborers were given wages by the factory owners for their work, they ultimately had to pay back the factory owners for their provisions.
Many slaves were able to cultivate their own gardens, but only if they were allowed by their master. Although slave marriages were forbidden, slaves did marry and had large families. Most slave owners were not opposing to this practice, but also, it was not a problem to divide the families for the owners’ own interest. Slaves worked hard, especially slave women, who had to work on the fields, but also to handle cooking, cleaning and child raising. Pregnant women, children, and the elderly were forced to work hard in the fields for more than ten hours per day.