Question

question 5 of 10

the overall goal of sharecropping was to:

a. trap black people in a cycle of debt and poverty.
b. take away the voting rights of black people.
c. support businesses owned by black people.
d. help black people become landowners.

Explanation:

Analyze the purpose of sharecropping

Using the Sharecropping System knowledge point

Following the Civil War, Southern landowners sought to maintain control over agricultural labor. The system they established forced tenant farmers to work a plot of land in exchange for a share of the crop. Because landowners controlled the accounts, charged high interest rates, and forced tenants to buy supplies on credit, the system effectively kept freedmen in a continuous loop of financial obligation.

Evaluate the given options

• Option A accurately describes how the system functioned in practice, binding laborers to the land through inescapable debt.
• Option B refers to disenfranchisement, which was achieved through literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses, not sharecropping.
• Option C is incorrect because the system actively suppressed independent Black economic growth and business ownership.
• Option D is incorrect because the high interest rates and debt cycles prevented sharecroppers from saving enough money to purchase their own land.

Answer:

• (A) trap Black people in a cycle of debt and poverty. (Correct answer)
• (B) take away the voting rights of Black people.
• (C) support businesses owned by Black people.
• (D) help Black people become landowners.