They then tried all systems of working on shares in the cotton districts; but this was finally abandoned because the planters in some cases were not able to advance the Negro tenant supplies, pending the growth of the crop, and some found the Negro too indifferent and lazy to make the partnership desirable.

Then came the renting system which during the Reconstruction period was general in the cotton districts.

This system threw the tenant on his own responsibility and frequently made him the victim of his own ignorance and the rapacity of the white man.

As exorbitant prices were charged for rent, usually six to ten dollars an acre for land worth fifteen to thirty dollars an acre, the Negro tenant not only did not accumulate anything but had reason to rejoice at the end of the year, if he found himself out of debt.[9] Along with this went the credit system which furnished the capstone of the economic structure so harmful to the Negro tenant.

This system made the Negroes dependent for their living on an advance of supplies of food, clothing or tools during the year, secured by a lien on the crop when harvested.