Delta Fragments: The Recollections of a Sharecropper's Son

Settlement Time

Settlement Time Nought from nought is nought Five’s a figger All for the white man; None for the nigger. Southern folk rhyme Though most families knew the outcome, settlement day was filled with excitement and expectation. It was always held just a few days before Christmas. Whether or not one cleared anything could spell the difference between a joyous holiday season and a disappointing one. But even if our family didn’t clear anything , which was most often the case, we were generally allowed, even encouraged , to borrow on the next year’s crop. On settlement day, the sharecroppers stood in line, beginning around ten in the morning. Some tried to arrive early, hoping to be done by a decent hour. Croppers from all the farms owned by the planter met at the head commissary , generally on the same day, but this depended entirely on the size of the plantation. It often took until well after midnight before the last account was settled. Thus, the farmhands sat for hours, standing occasionally to ease the weariness in their limbs. Boredom wore on the older men, while the younger ones told jokes about sexual exploits of a few nights before, being careful not to offend a father or brother within earshot. This fraternity of young and old simply Settlement Time 46 waited. Somehow they realized that they were all in this thing together. But this didn’t keep some of the more imaginative and suspicious among them from wondering how one cropper could come out in the black when he produced significantly less than some of the others. This led to a few unkind rumors about how the cropper’s wife or daughter was engaging in activities unrelated to farming. These were just rumors, mind you, with no facts to back them up. In the meantime , the sharecroppers just waited to be told what they already knew: “It was not a very good year for cotton or prices, and you had a number of doctor bills.” How many bills and just how much indebtedness there was only the bookkeeper knew, and his recollection wasn’t subject to question by a farmhand. The medical bills, weekly rations of molasses and salt pork, Vienna sausage, potted meat, the rent on the two- or three-room shotgun house, and the “furnish” offered to some of the sharecroppers (those with big families who produced large quantities of cotton) all had to be deducted. Each year, it was the same thing. We always seemed to come out in the hole, no matter how hard we worked. A few days before one particular Christmas, when I was about three years old, my stepfather went to settlement. This year there was genuine hope that things would be better. My mother, stepfather, and sister had worked especially hard. I had been taken to the doctor a time or two for my tonsils and adenoids but nothing really major, so there was reason to hope that this year would be different. Waiting to see how you came out was always charged with great expectancy, despite the many disappointments of the past. So, just as my stepfather waited at the commissary, we waited at home. It was the same all over the plantation. We all stayed up waiting, and even if we fell asleep on the floor, we’d soon awaken to see if our fathers had returned with any good news at all. When my stepfather did return, he was angrier than he’d ever been. Unable to vent his frustrations toward the bookkeeper or the owner, he came home and vented them toward his family. He now knew that there was nothing he could have done to turn the books in his favor. He simply took the twenty-five dollars the planter/owner loaned him and gave it to my mother and sister. The owner wanted it to be known that he was no Scrooge. He understood the meaning of Christmas, so he was quite prepared to lend my stepfather a few dollars against the next year’s crop so that I could have a visit from Santa Claus and my sister might perhaps get an outfit. Although I was quite young, I remember this episode very well. At least, I remember the beautiful blue and white jumper suit my sister purchased for me. Later on, I learned the details of how it was acquired. I 47...