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In the early 1860's the African Americans that lived in the US at the time did numerous jobs for both sides to help war efforts. Most colored men in the south still worked on plantations and in factories working day and night making supplies for the Confederacy. The "free" African Americans in the North mostly worked in factories creating a wide variety of supplies for their army. Most noble and brave souls did in fact join the military in segregated platoons to get "payback" for the harsh treatment the southern plantation owners inflicted on them. Most colored soldiers that were too young to enlist lied about their age to join the army. Holt Collier recorded some of his encounters during this tough time for America saying, "Tom agreed that the little colored boy was too young to enter the army, I begged like a dog, but they stuck too it-"You're too young". Most older men were allowed to join the Norths cause, and fight under prestigious war generals .

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1. The creation of what machine made the cotton industry slavery boom?

2. Other than cotton what else was produced by the help of slaves?

3. What was a reason that some slaves joined the military

4. What did freed slave James Martin do for a living after the war?

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http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/sharecropping#
http://newdeal.feri.org/asn/topic2.htm
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3041

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Slaves worked all day in a field picking cotton

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Slaves worked all day in a field picking cotton

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In the early years of Reconstruction, most blacks in rural areas of the South were left without land and forced to work as laborers on large white-owned farms and plantations in order to earn a living. James Martin, freed slave described his work life after slavery saying, "I drove cattle for big outfits, and drove 2,000 or 3,000 head for John Lytle, Brockhaus, Kieran and Bill Sutton".  Some freed slaves became sharecroppers, people who farm others land while the owner gets a portion of the crops. The cost of tools and other supplies were so expensive that the sharecroppers often owed more to the landowner than they were able to repay.

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Slavery has been around since the early 17th century. Slavery began to die away, then began to thrive again in the early 1800's. The creation of the cotton gin made slavery a necessity for southern farmers to own slaves and strike it rich. They could produce over 1000 pounds a day with the cotton gin. The cotton gin made by Eli Whitney, increased the production of cotton dramatically.  Working on a plantation was accepted by few, but most slaves hated and complained about their work. The slaves  didn't just produce cotton they also worked with tobacco, hemp, corn, and livestock. ''Growing up on the plantation there in Mississippi, I would work Monday through Saturday noon. I'd go to town on Saturday afternoons, sit on the street corner, and I'd sing and play.'' -former slave