Description
In 1870, Reverend H.W. Pierson authored "A Letter to Hon. Charles Sumner, with 'Statements' of Outrages Upon Freedmen in Georgia, and an Account of my Expulsion from Andersonville, GA. by the Ku-Klux Klan." While serving as a pastor and teacher in Georgia, he collected interviews from freedmen and documented the violence and discrimination they faced. This particular account is from the perspective of Cane Cook, a middle-aged, African-American man who was a former sharecropper. Cook recalls his arrangement with Robert Hodges, a white man who he rented land from and gave a percentage of his crops to. The recollection of Hodges turns brutal during a minor disagreement about a charge of syrup. In a rage, Hodges strikes Cook on the back of the head, and Cook loses all control of his body, making his a quadriplegic. Hodges is never charged with the crime and Cook doesn't sue Hodges because "I have not gone before any of the courts I have no money to pay a lawyer, and I know it would do no good." This statement from Cook shows the violent and oppressive abuses facing African-American sharecroppers by their white employers, many of whom were former slave owners.
Transcript of "Statement of Cane Cook"
Source-Dependent Questions
- Sharecropping was very common for freemen in the South during Reconstruction. Using Cane Cook’s arrangement with Robert Hodges, explain how sharecropping worked.
- What were the disadvantages of sharecropping for freemen like Cook?
- This incident occurred after the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which granted African-American citizens the right to sue in the court of law. Why then might Cook have believed "it would do no good" to attempt to sue Hodges? What does this suggest about the relationship between state and federal government?
Citation Information
Pierson, H.W., "A Letter to Hon. Charles Sumner, with 'Statements' of Outrages Upon Freedmen in Georgia, and an Account of my Expulsion from Andersonville, GA. by the Ku-Klux Klan," pp. 4-6, 1870. Courtesy of Library of Congress