Sharecroppers' Union
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The Sharecroppers' Union, also known as SCU or Alabama Sharecroppers’ Union, was a
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
of predominantly
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
tenant farmers A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...
(commonly referred to as
sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...
) in the American South that operated from 1931 to 1936. Its aims were to improve wages and working conditions for sharecroppers.


History

Founded in 1931 in
Tallapoosa County, Alabama Tallapoosa County is located in the east-central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama."ACES Tallapoosa County Office" (links/history), Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES), 2007, webpageACES-Tallapoosa As of the 2020 census, the populati ...
, the Sharecroppers' Union had its origins in the Croppers’ and Farm Workers’ Union (CFWU). It was founded with the support of the Communist Party USA and, although theoretically open to all races, its membership by 1933 was solely African-American. Among its first members was
Ned Cobb Ned Cobb (also known as Nate Shaw) (1885–1973) was an African-American tenant farmer born in Tallapoosa County in Alabama. He joined the Sharecroppers' Union (SCU) in 1931, which was founded the same year. Biography Cobb was the fourth of ...
, whose story was told in
Theodore Rosengarten Theodore Rosengarten (born December 17, 1944) is an American historian. He graduated from Amherst College in 1966 with a BA, and earned his PhD from Harvard University with a dissertation on Ned Cobb (1885–1973), a former Alabama tenant far ...
’s ''All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw''. SCU's initial demands included continuation of food advances, which had been suspended by landowners in an attempt to drive down wages; the ASU also demanded the right to sell surplus crops directly in the market rather than having to rely on
brokerage A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be con ...
by the landowners. They demanded also the right to cultivate small garden plots in order to minimize dependency on the landowners for food. In addition to the demand for payments to be made in cash rather than in goods, SCU membership also demanded nine-month public elementary schools for their children. In 1935, the SCU turned its attention to the Federal government.
Subsidies A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...
which were provided by the New Deals' 1933
Agricultural Adjustment Act The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers subsidies not to plant on par ...
(AAA) benefited only the landowners and the SCU sued the Federal government for direct payment to sharecroppers. The AAA was declared
unconstitutional Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...
in 1936 and the case was subsequently dropped. By 1935, membership had reached 5,000; by 1936, membership had nearly doubled to 10,000. However, in October of that year the Communist Party, desirous of promoting a more popular-frontist bloc with Democrats in the South, withdrew its support of SCU,Cane, Don and Zorn, Jacob (2008)
Communist Organizing in the Jim Crow South
Workers Vanguard No. 925 resulting in the dissolution of the SCU as it merged first into the Farmers' Union of Alabama and then into the Alabama Agricultural Workers' Union.


See also

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Southern Tenant Farmers Union The Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) (1934–1970) was founded as a civil farmer's union to organize tenant farmers in the Southern United States. Originally set up in July 1934 during the Great Depression, the STFU was founded to help sha ...
*
Sharecropping Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...


References

{{Authority control Agriculture and forestry trade unions in the United States History of agriculture in the United States Trade unions established in 1931 Politics of the Southern United States Agricultural organizations based in the United States Labor relations in Alabama