BLACK AND WHITE FARM OPERATORS IN THE SOUTH DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the Great Depression, many dislocated workers became farm operators. Building on classic studies of economic distress in the South in the 1930s, I examine this reaction to joblessness, focusing on racial differences in the upper and lower parts of the region. I address the question, “Did southern blacks become farm operators to seek shelter from stagnant labor markets?” An answer is needed because, in spite of reports that blacks in the South tended to leave farming in those places where jobs were most scarce, a noted scholar of the era has argued persuasively that displaced blacks in the region were absorbed into the agriculture sector. A multivariate analysis of Census data from 1930–1935 finds no evidence that jobless black southerners, similar to their white counterparts, became farm operators in response to labor market distress. I conclude that these results provide a more complete account of farming during the Great Depression and underscore the importance of studying the racial and geographical diversity of the South.