The Great Depression Lecture Series – “Land of Our Own? Sharecroppers and Tenant Farmers in the Great Depression”

A core tenet of the New Deal was to improve the economic standing of the nation’s farmers who had suffered from depressed commodity prices since the 1920s. Yet, the implementation of these programs was often skewed solely toward landowners. For the millions of non-landowning farmers—sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and farmworkers—there existed little to no avenues for assistance. Consequently, a debilitating cycle of debt, evictions, and displacements continued to plague this foundational section of American society. In the eighth installment of the Great Depression Lecture Series, we will examine the conditions afflicting these non-landowning farmers and how the New Deal failed to mitigate their suffering.

This is the eighth installment in the Great Depression Lecture Series, an America 250 program. This is a Wood County Park District lead event, in partnership with the Wood County Museum.