Sharecropping emerged as a system during Reconstruction to address the economic needs of both freedmen and landowners. The following timeline outlines the main events and developments:

1865: The end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. Freedmen seek new economic opportunities.

1867: Sharecropping begins to develop as a widespread practice in the Southern states. Landowners offer land in exchange for a share of the crop.

1868: The passage of the Fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship to freedmen, but economic independence remains limited.

1870: Sharecropping becomes a dominant agricultural system, with many freedmen and poor whites participating.

Late 1870s: Sharecropping becomes increasingly exploitative, with landowners controlling credit, supplies, and land.

1890s: Sharecropping entrenches economic dependency for many African Americans and poor whites, often leading to cycles of debt.

Historian View: According to historian Eric Foner, "Sharecropping was a compromise that kept the South economically afloat but often kept sharecroppers in poverty and dependence."