What was a common crop grown by sharecroppers in the South?

• A. Wheat
• B. Cotton
• C. Rice
• D. Tobacco

Answer: (B)

Cotton dominated the post–Civil War South and shaped how sharecropping worked. After emancipation, planters relied on rent-and-share systems to keep farming going, and cotton was the region’s main cash crop with established markets in national mills and overseas buyers. Landowners could supply land, seed, and tools in exchange for a large share of the harvest, so the crop that made the most revenue and fit the existing plantation-style setup was cotton. While other crops like rice, tobacco, or wheat were grown in some areas, they did not define Southern agriculture on a broad, systemic level the way cotton did during Reconstruction.