UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1404 
Washington, D. C. 
April, 1926 
TENANCY AND OWNERSHIP AMONG NEGRO FARMERS IN SOUTHAMPTON 
COUNTY, VIRGINIA 
By W. S. Scarborough 
Formerly Specialist in Farm Studies, Bureau of Agricultural Economics 1 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Purpose and scope of study 1 
Changes in agriculture and agricultural or- 
ganization of Southampton County since 
1860 ----- 4 
Changes in utilization of the farm land._ 4 
Crops grown in this section 5 
Changes in size of farms 5 
Changes in value of farm real estate 6 
Changes in the value of other kinds of 
farm property 6 
Changes in farm tenure in the section 7 
Negro population and farm tenure in South- 
ampton County 7 
Size and value of farms and of farm property. 8 
Changes in tenure status of the farmers sur- 
veyed 9 
Net -worth of farmers and kinds of property 
owned 11 
Indebtedness and credit 13 
Page 
Progress in accumulation 14 
Rates of accumulation 15 
Classification of accumulators of wealth . . 17 
Relation of rate of accumulation to various 
conditions 18 
Accumulation of wealth in relation to 
value and size of farm 18 
Relation of tenure and success in accumu- 
lation to education of operators and 
their children 19 
Standards of living of farm families 20 
Distribution of expenditures for family 
living 21 
Size of family and of house 22 
Use of automobile, telephone, and mail 
delivery 23 
Periodical reading material in homes 23 
Extent of migration and degree of stability of 
occupancy 24 
Summary and conclusions 25 
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF STUDY 
In the South, agriculture always has been and still is the principal 
economic activity of the negro race. The negro population of the 16 
Southern States (including Delaware) constituted, in 1860, 92.2 per 
cent of the total negro population of the United States. In 1920, 
regardless of the fact that the negroes had been free for over 50 years, 
85.2 per cent of the total negro population of the country still lived in 
the Southern States. Negroes constitute 27 per cent of the popula- 
tion of these States, and 75 per cent of them live in rural districts. 
Approximately 29 per cent of all the farms in these 16 States are 
operated by negroes. 
Since the World War, agricultural and industrial conditions have 
been such as to cause an unprecedented wave of emigration of negroes 
from the South to northern industrial centers. This migration is, in 
1 The field work in gathering the materials for this bulletin was performed mainly by W. S. Scarborough. 
The study was prepared under the direction of L. C. Gray, and the bulletin for the most part has been 
written by him because of the resignation of Doctor Scarborough. 
80641— 26f 1 
