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46-584: Since 1981, after a childhood of listening to the stories of his elders, Flat Rock native, Johnny Waits developed a vision to preserve the African-American history of the Flat Rock community. In December 2006, the Flat Rock Archives opened to the public. The co-founders of the archive is T.A. Bryant, Jr., Vera Whitaker, and Johnny Waits. Cheryl Moore-Mathis is the current President of the archive. In 2006,

92-415: A plantation house , grow crops including cotton , cannabis , coffee , tea , cocoa , sugar cane , opium , sisal , oil seeds , oil palms , fruits, rubber trees and forest trees. Protectionist policies and natural comparative advantage have sometimes contributed to determining where plantations are located. In modern use, the term usually refers only to large-scale estates. Before about 1860, it

138-717: A rice producing powerhouse. While enslaved, people on plantations found ways to supplement their meager food rations by cultivating slave gardens. These slave gardens were usually near the slave cabins or remote areas of the plantation, and provided slaves with three benefits: nourishment, financial independence, and medicinal uses. These slave gardens allowed enslaved people some level of autonomy and agency; when they grew more than they could consume, they were able to sell. The great majority of black farmworkers before 1865 were enslaved workers on Southern farms and plantations . Smaller numbers were free employees or farm owners. In South Carolina there were about 400 free black farmers in

184-657: A "new journey for people of African ancestry to participate in the U.S. Agriculture Industry in a new way." Sharecropping became widespread in the South during and after the Reconstruction Era . The conditions for black cotton farmers gradually improved during the twentieth century. Ralph J. Bunche , an expert in Negro suffrage in the United States, observed in 1940 that "many thousands of black cotton farmers each year now go to

230-489: A barn, smokehouse, and outhouse constructed throughout the 20th century. The historical landscape also includes the Historical African American Flat Rock Cemetery. According to Dr. Jeffrey Glover of Georgia State University 's 2008 cemetery mapping project there are approximately 202 graves with 107 being unidentified fieldstones. The Flat Rock Archives is currently collecting and preserving

276-533: A high marginal product of labor realized through the increasing number of enslaved people. Plantings of the Pará rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis ) are usually called plantations. Oil palm agriculture rapidly expands across wet tropical regions and is usually developed at a plantation scale. Fruit orchards are sometimes considered to be plantations. These include tobacco , sugarcane , pineapple , bell pepper , and cotton , especially in historical usage. Before

322-508: A lack of natural regeneration. The tree species used in a plantation are also an important factor. Where non-native varieties or species are grown, few native faunas are adapted to exploit these, and further biodiversity loss occurs. However, even non-native tree species may serve as corridors for wildlife and act as a buffer for native forests, reducing edge effect . Once a plantation is established, managing it becomes an important environmental factor. The most critical aspect of management

368-507: A natural forest is cleared for a planted forest, then a reduction in biodiversity and loss of habitat will likely result. In some cases, their establishment may involve draining wetlands to replace mixed hardwoods that formerly predominated with pine species. If a plantation is established on abandoned agricultural land or highly degraded land, it can increase both habitat and biodiversity. A planted forest can be profitably established on lands that will not support agriculture or suffer from

414-730: A quarter of these farmers. While the plan is associated with the administration's COVID-19 stimulus relief packages , it is the first wave of relief for Black farmers since the extent of the debt-relief Pigford v. Glickman was to offer. Picking cotton was often a subject which was mentioned in songs by African-American blues and jazz musicians in the 1920s–1940s, reflecting their grievances. In 1940, jazz pianist Duke Ellington composed " Cotton Tail " and blues musician Lead Belly wrote " Cotton Fields ". In 1951, Big Mama Thornton wrote " Cotton Picking Blues ." A number of blues and jazz musicians had worked on cotton plantations. Blues pianist Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins for instance had once been

460-649: A tool of environmental restoration . Sugar plantations were highly valued in the Caribbean by the British and French colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the use of sugar in Europe rose during this period. Sugarcane is still an important crop in Cuba. Sugar plantations also arose in countries such as Barbados and Cuba because of the natural endowments that they had. These natural endowments included soil conducive to growing sugar and

506-439: A tractor driver on a Mississippi plantation before enjoying a successful career with Muddy Waters . Lord Buckley once sang a song titled "Black Cross", pertaining to an educated black farmer murdered by a mob comprising white men. Plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on

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552-610: A wide range of archival material, including genealogical records, newspaper articles, photographs, maps, church records, school records, rare books, and tangible artifacts that relate to African-American history in the rural South. In 2010, the Flat Rock Archives worked with Arabia Mountain High School to perform an honorary school graduation ceremony for eight African American elders of the Flat Rock community who were in their 70s, 80s and 90s. The students all attended Flat Rock School in

598-671: Is Open at the DeKalb History Center in Decatur, Georgia through 2021. An opening reception was held on the evening of Thursday, February 28, 2019, at the DeKalb History Center. Staff of the DeKalb History Center, Flat Rock Archives, National Park Service and the Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance were present, as well as members of the public and officials from DeKalb County and the cities of Decatur , Lithonia , and Stonecrest . The Archives also maintains

644-420: Is the rotation period. Plantations harvested on more extended rotation periods (30 years or more) can provide similar benefits to a naturally regenerated forest managed for wood production on a similar rotation. This is especially true if native species are used. In the case of exotic species, the habitat can be improved significantly if the impact is mitigated by measures such as leaving blocks of native species in

690-627: The American Civil War . The mild temperate climate , plentiful rainfall, and fertile soils of the Southeastern United States allowed the flourishing of large plantations, where large numbers of enslaved Africans were held captive and forced to produce crops to create wealth for a white elite . When Newfoundland was colonized by England in 1610, the original colonists were called "planters", and their fishing rooms were known as "fishing plantations". These terms were used well into

736-613: The Antebellum South . After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863-1865 most stayed in farming as very poor sharecroppers , who rarely owned land. They began the Great Migration to cities in the mid-20th century. About 40,000 are farmers today. Plantation owners brought a mass of slaves from Africa and the Caribbean and Mexico to farm the fields during cotton harvests . Black women and children were also enslaved in

782-620: The Colored Farmer's Association (CFA) strikers from Memphis organized the Cotton pickers strike of 1891 in Lee County in September, which resulted in much violence. Black cotton farmers were very important to entrepreneurs which emerged during industrialization in the United States, particularly Henry Ford . The United States Emancipation Proclamation came into power on January 1, 1863, allowing

828-540: The Southern United States from the 17th into the 20th century. The complex included everything from the main residence down to the pens for livestock . Until the abolition of slavery , such plantations were generally self-sufficient settlements that relied on the forced labor of enslaved people. Plantations are an important aspect of the history of the Southern United States , particularly before

874-493: The company store . In Brazil, a sugarcane plantation was termed an engenho ("engine"), and the 17th-century English usage for organized colonial production was "factory." Such colonial social and economic structures are discussed at Plantation economy . Sugar workers on plantations in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean lived in company towns known as bateyes . Plantation complexes were common on agricultural plantations in

920-522: The " Great Migration " as mechanization of agriculture was introduced, leaving many unemployed. The Hopson Planting Company produced the first crop of cotton to be entirely planted, harvested and baled by machinery in 1944. In 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture vowed to pay some forty thousand black farmers $ 1.2 billion in total, as compensation for years of undue discrimination. Though funds were intended to be distributed by

966-692: The 1930s and 1940s, a time when there was such hostility to educating blacks. The students were given honorary high school diplomas from the DeKalb County school system because during the time they were in school the county did not give high school diplomas to blacks. The DeKalb History Center is currently housing the Flat Rock Archives exhibit "Deep Roots in DeKalb: The Flat Rock Story of Resilience". It includes objects collected from community residents that showcase more than 150 years of history. Deep Roots in DeKalb: The Flat Rock Story of Resilience

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1012-454: The 1930s the state population had declined some 15%, largely due to cotton stagnation. However, it wasn't the collapse of prices or pests which resulted in the mass decline of African-American employment in agriculture in the American south. The mechanization of agriculture is undoubtedly the most important reason why many Black people moved to northern American cities in the 1940s and 1950s during

1058-548: The Atlantic. The slaves had experience with farming and they used the knowledge they had with growing food and the owners needed them to use the skills they learned from their country before they became slaves. Perhaps the best example of this is rice cultivation in South Carolina , relying on indigenous West African knowledge of growing Oryza glaberrima . This specific knowledge was invaluable in transforming South Carolina into

1104-609: The Eastern Shore. One out of eight Black people in the state was free and the rest were enslaved in 1860. There were severe legal restrictions and terms of nonvoting, not testifying in court, not attending schools. Newly manumitted ex-slaves had to leave the state. However the same property laws were applied, allowing free Black people to own and operated 1202 small farms in 1860. They were patronized by some wealthy white landowners, who would hire them for cash wages from time to time. They were especially needed at harvest time, and when it

1150-452: The Flat Rock Archives was part of a segment on African American Lives , episode "Listening to our Past" featuring Chris Tucker . One goal of the Flat Rock Archives is to preserve the memories of the Flat Rock community. President of the archive, Cheryl Mathis-Moore wants the sounds, memories, and stories to be preserved and heard for generations to come. In an Atlanta Journal Constitution article from 2005, Cleveland McMullen (aged 83 at

1196-577: The Historic African American Flat Rock Cemetery. 33°39′53.4″N 84°9′42.4″W  /  33.664833°N 84.161778°W  / 33.664833; -84.161778 African-American history of agriculture in the United States The role of African Americans in the agricultural history of the United States includes roles as the main work force when they were enslaved on cotton and tobacco plantations in

1242-509: The boll weevil pest wiped out the sea island cotton crop in 1921. Annual production slumped from 1,365,000 bales in the 1910s to 801,000 in the 1920s. In South Carolina, Williamsburg County production fell from 37,000 bales in 1920 to 2,700 bales in 1922 and one farmer in McCormick County produced 65 bales in 1921 and just 6 in 1922. As a result of the devastating harvest of 1922, some 50,000 black cotton workers left South Carolina, and by

1288-472: The crop-lien system. Southern black cotton farmers faced discrimination from the north. Many white Democrats were concerned about how many of African Americans were being employed in the US cotton industry and the dramatic growth of black landowners. They urged white farmers in the south to take control of the industry, which from time to time resulted in strikes by black cotton pickers; for instance Black people led by

1334-572: The end of 2012, the black farmers had yet to receive the designated remuneration by March 2013. In all, farmers in Pigford I who filed timely claims had received over $ 1 billion in payments. More than 60,000 farmers submitted late claim petitions in Pigford I. Late claimants in Pigford I were able to receive $ 1.1 billion in payments in the Pigford II claims process. 33,000 Black farmers in Pigford II received decision letters dated August 30, 2013, resulting from

1380-464: The home nine, just that "it was a big deal, people came from all over. They'd have a barbecue, make a whole day of it." The Archives sit within a historical landscape and currently maintain the 20th century Georgian Cottage known as the T.A. Bryant, Sr. House built in 1917. The T.A. Bryant, Sr. house was donated to the Archives by T.A. Bryant, Sr.'s son and Co-Founder T.A. Bryant, Jr. The site also includes

1426-522: The increase in international trade and the development of a worldwide economy that followed the expansion of European colonialism . Tree plantations, in the United States often called tree farms , are established for the commercial production of timber or tree products such as palm oil , coffee , or rubber . Teak and bamboo plantations in India have given good results and an alternative crop solution to farmers of central India, where conventional farming

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1472-447: The industry. The growth of Slavery in the United States is closely tied to the expansion of plantation agriculture. The contributions of enslaved people on early American agriculture has largely been discounted and ignored, mainly because of the lack of records not created by the slaveholder, often writing to justify enslavement However, many plantation owners relied on the agricultural knowledge that Africans brought over from across

1518-643: The late claims process that closed on May 11, 2012. About 18,000 Pigford II claims were eventually decided in favor of the farmers and 15,000 claims were denied. As of 2012, there were 44,629 African-American farmers in the United States. The vast majority of African-American farmers were in southern states . In 2021, the Biden Administration proposed the American Rescue Plan , which will support agriculture, and of this, $ 10.4 billion will be allocated to "disadvantaged" farmers; Black farmers make up

1564-539: The low wages typically paid to plantation workers are the basis of plantation profitability in some areas. In more recent times, overt slavery has been replaced by para-slavery or slavery-in-kind , including the sharecropping system , and even that has been severely reduced. At its most extreme, workers are in " debt bondage ": they must work to pay off a debt at such punitive interest rates that it may never be paid off. Others work unreasonably long hours and are paid subsistence wages that (in practice) may only be spent in

1610-528: The plantation or retaining corridors of natural forest. In Brazil, similar measures are required by government regulation. Plantation owners extensively used enslaved Africans to work on early plantations (such as tobacco, rice, cotton, hemp, and sugar plantations) in the American colonies and the United States, throughout the Caribbean, the Americas, and in European-occupied areas of Africa. In modern times,

1656-419: The polls, stand in line with their white neighbors, and mark their ballots independently without protest or intimidation, in order to determine government policy toward cotton production control." However, discrimination towards Black people continued as it did in the rest of society, and isolated incidents often broke out. On 25 September 1961 Herbert Lee, a black cotton farmer and voter-registration organizer,

1702-521: The rise of cotton in the American South, indigo and rice were also sometimes called plantation crops. Probably the most critical factor a plantation has on the local environment is the site where the plantation is established. In Brazil, coffee plantations would use slash-and-burn agriculture, tearing down rainforests and planting coffee trees that depleted the nutrients in soil. Once the soil had been sapped, growers would move on to another place. If

1748-561: The rural parishes surrounding Charleston . As farmers their strategies, production, and rural lives resembled the poor white neighbors. Survival was a high priority and involved establishing economic self-sufficiency through concentration on food crops for their own families, and then by cultivating social advantages such as having a rich white patron. Virginia had a large free black element. By 1860, there were 58,000 free Black people living in Virginia; 80 percent in rural areas. Most lived on

1794-440: The same period indicated that 2 in 3 black women from black landowning families were involved in cotton farming. In 1920, 24% (218,612) of farms in the nation were Black-operated, less than 1% (2,026) were managed by Black people, and 76% (705,070) of Black farm operators were tenants. The cotton industry in the United States hit a crisis in the early 1920s. Cotton and tobacco prices collapsed in 1920 following overproduction and

1840-516: The time) shared that he grew up in Flat Rock and joined the exodus of thousands of Southern blacks who fled to the North during the Great Depression to find jobs in factories and escape enforced segregation. He recalled that Flat Rock had its own "scout" team (baseball), which played rivals from nearby communities, such as Lithonia, and, toward Atlanta, Edgewood. But McMullen can't recall the team name of

1886-434: Was essential to their survival to be useful and available to politically powerful white neighbors. After emancipation and the passage of the thirteenth amendment , Black slaves were legally freed, but most of them lacked any kind of material wealth and were thus led into other oppressive relationships. Many Black agriculturists were subjugated to land tenure agreements and working as sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and within

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1932-479: Was necessary to replant the small tobacco plants . It was a political movement in 1853 to expel all free Black people from Virginia, but key White landowners intervened to block the proposal; they appreciated and often needed the labor of the free Black people. From the point of view of the free Black people, the small amounts of cash were useful; probably even more useful it was to be paid with old clothes, used tools, or young animals in lieu of cash wages. Above all, it

1978-547: Was shot on the head by white State legislator E. H. Hurst in Liberty, Mississippi . Yet the cotton industry continued to be very important for Black people in the southern United States, much more so than for whites. By the late 1920s around two-thirds of all African-American tenants and almost three-fourths of the croppers worked on cotton farms. 3 out of every 4 black farm operators earned at least 40% of their income from cotton farming during this period. Studies conducted during

2024-539: Was the usual term for a farm of any size in the southern parts of British North America , with, as Noah Webster noted, "farm" becoming the usual term from about Maryland northward. The enslavement of people was the norm in Maryland and states southward. The plantations there were forced-labor farms. The term "plantation" was used in most British colonies but very rarely in the United Kingdom itself in this sense. There it

2070-487: Was used mainly for tree plantations , areas artificially planted with trees, whether purely for commercial forestry , or partly for ornamental effect in gardens and parks, when it might also cover plantings of garden shrubs. Among the earliest examples of plantations were the latifundia of the Roman Empire , which produced large quantities of grain, wine, and olive oil for export. Plantation agriculture proliferated with

2116-627: Was widespread. But due to the rising input costs of agriculture, many farmers have done teak and bamboo plantations, which require very little water (only during the first two years). Teak and bamboo have legal protection from theft. Bamboo, once planted, gives output for 50 years till flowering occurs. Teak requires 20 years to grow to full maturity and fetch returns. These may be established for watershed or soil protection. They are established for erosion control, landslide stabilization, and windbreaks. Such plantations are established to foster native species and promote forest regeneration on degraded lands as

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