UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 1068 
Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 
and Farm Economics 
Strf^J-U G. W. FORSTER, Acting Chief A»"fe 
Washington, D. C. T May 12, 1922 
FARM OWNERSHIP AND TENANCY IN THE BLACK 
PRAIRIE OF TEXAS. 
By J. T. Sanders, Assistant Agricultural Economist. 
(Division of Land Economics, L. C. Gray, Economist in Charge.) 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Purpose and extent of investigation- 1 
The development of tenure problems 
in the black land 4 
Economic aspects of the forms of 
tenure 15 
Page. 
Agricultural history of farm opera- 
tors 31 
Domestic, social, and educational 
conditions in relation to tenure 50 
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION. 1 
The Black Land Prairie of Texas has long been regarded by stu- 
dents of American tenure problems as a region of special interest. The 
percentage of tenantry is high, and the development of the tenant 
system has been unusually rapid. Since the region was but sparsely 
settled at the close of the Civil War, and since there has never been 
a high percentage of negro farm operators in the region — in 1920 
but 15.9 per cent — tenancy in the Black Land is not attributable to 
the historical reasons which serve to explain, in the main, the pre- 
valence of tenancy in other sections of the South. However, the 
one-crop system, with cotton as the basis, prevails here as elsewhere 
in the South where there is also a high percentage of negro tenantry. 
The region is of special interest, furthermore, because of the social 
and political unrest arising from its tenure problems, which at times 
has been a major factor in politics in the State and attracted national 
attention. Shortly after 1900 tenure conditions gave rise to the pay- 
ment of a bonus above the customary one-third grain and one-fourth 
cotton share rent — the share paid since early renting days in the 
1 Acknowledgment for helpful cooperation in planning field work and collecting data is 
given to Mr. C. O. Brannen, of the Office of Farm Management and Farm Economics ; to 
members of the faculties of the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College and the Texas 
State University for valuable suggestions as to plans for field work : and to Miss M. I. 
Herb, who assisted in the tabulation of the data. 
90872—22 1 
