Although, this might seem like a well- planned system, it had its flaws. "The system was generally inefficient, for the tenant lacked incentive to care for the land, and the owner had little chance to supervise the work" (America 845). When cash was scarce credit was supplied, leading only to a "hopeless cycle of perennial debt" (America 847). As a result, many blacks and whites owed large amounts of money. So, even though blacks could take part in sharecropping, it was to a great disadvantage. In fact, during this time period African Americans labored hard in the fields. Ironically, not much had changed since the years prior to Reconstruction. Booker T. Washington is quoted, "we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labour" (41). It seems as though slavery had come to an end, but to survive the Negro race continued to labor in the fields while the white race was finding ways to indirectly control how they lived.
Socially, it was incredibly difficult for African Americans to fight for their rights and become equal citizens of the United States. "Jim Crow Laws" or racial segregation was soon to play an important roll in history. In 1883 the Supreme Court ruled on seven Civil Rights Cases that involved discrimination against blacks. Despite having the Fourteenth Amendment that states all citizens have equal protection of the laws, the Civil Rights Cases found a way around it. Soon following came the segregation of railroad cars. In the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896, a young man by the name of Homer Plessy refused to leave a white railroad car when told to do so. Once convicted, the case went to the Supreme Court. In America, the Court ruled that, "segregation laws have been generally, if not universally recognized as within the competency of state legislatures in the exercise of their police power" (853).
