Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Elaine massacre" in English language version.
The Negroes had been having trouble in getting settlements for the cotton they raised on land owned by whites. Both the Negroes and the white owners were to share the profits when the crop was sold at the end of the year. Between the time of planting and selling the share-croppers "took up" food, clothing, and necessities at excessive prices from the plantation store owned by the planter. It was not a practice of the landowner and share-croppers to go together to a market to dispose of the cotton when it was ready. Rather the landowner sold the crop whenever and however he saw fit. At the time of settlement neither an itemized statement of accounts owed nor an accounting of the money received for cotton and seed was, in most cases, given or shown the Negroes. The total amount owed was stated, and the Negroes then given a settlement which inevitably kept many Negroes in debt with the landlord. The Negroes were afraid, because of intimidation and possible bodily harm, to protest openly the disadvantages of the system. This procedure of accounting led to alleged abuses of padding and peonage by unscrupulous landowners and their agents. Many Negroes were utterly helpless in the face of "vicious exploitation." It was an unwritten law of the cotton country that they could not "quit" and leave a plantation until their debts were paid. Many Negroes in Phillips County whose cotton was sold in October, 1918, did not get a settlement before July of the following year.Note: The author of this article was President of Arkansas Baptist College, Little Rock.
The Negroes had been having trouble in getting settlements for the cotton they raised on land owned by whites. Both the Negroes and the white owners were to share the profits when the crop was sold at the end of the year. Between the time of planting and selling the share-croppers "took up" food, clothing, and necessities at excessive prices from the plantation store owned by the planter. It was not a practice of the landowner and share-croppers to go together to a market to dispose of the cotton when it was ready. Rather the landowner sold the crop whenever and however he saw fit. At the time of settlement neither an itemized statement of accounts owed nor an accounting of the money received for cotton and seed was, in most cases, given or shown the Negroes. The total amount owed was stated, and the Negroes then given a settlement which inevitably kept many Negroes in debt with the landlord. The Negroes were afraid, because of intimidation and possible bodily harm, to protest openly the disadvantages of the system. This procedure of accounting led to alleged abuses of padding and peonage by unscrupulous landowners and their agents. Many Negroes were utterly helpless in the face of "vicious exploitation." It was an unwritten law of the cotton country that they could not "quit" and leave a plantation until their debts were paid. Many Negroes in Phillips County whose cotton was sold in October, 1918, did not get a settlement before July of the following year.Note: The author of this article was President of Arkansas Baptist College, Little Rock.
