Large plantations were farms with hundreds or thousands of acres of land owned by one family. The main cash crops that plantations grew in America were tobacco, cotton, and rice. "King Cotton" is a slogan used by Southerners before the Civil War. When Southerners used this slogan, they were saying that cotton was so important that they would have no problem winning the Civil War against the North. They thought that since cotton was the most important trade item, they would have all the resources they needed to win.

Plantations operated by using slave labor. Emmaline was enslaved as a child on the Harper Plantation in Henry County, Georgia. Every morning at 4 a.m. Emmaline woke up to the sound of a horn. When the horn sounded, the enslaved people would run to the fields. They were often awake and working before the sun was out.

In this video, members of the Flat Rock community talk about the significance of farming cotton

An Excerpt from Emmaline Heard’s Federal Writer’s Project Interview

“Slaves on the Harper plantation arose when the horn was sounded at four o’clock and hurried to the fields, although they would sometimes have to wait for daylight to dawn to see how to work. The overseer rode over the plantation watching the slaves at work and keeping account of the amount of work performed by each. Any who failed to complete their quota at the close of the day were punished.”

-Emmaline Heard, Atlanta, Georgia FWP

Federal Writers' Project: Slave Narrative Project, Vol. 4, Georgia, Part 2, Garey-Jones. 1936. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress

An overseer would ride around the plantation and watch the enslaved people work. It was the overseer's job to keep records of the amount of work performed by each person. Emmaline stated in her interview that if someone failed to complete their quota by the end of the day, they were punished. The quota meant that the individual had to meet a specific weight at the end of the day. Below is a photo of a group of sharecroppers weighing baskets of cotton.

Launey & Goebel. Picking cotton, Savannah, Ga., early Negro life. [between 1867 and 1890] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2015650292/>.

Launey & Goebel. Picking cotton, Savannah, Ga., early Negro life. [between 1867 and 1890] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2015650292/>.

George Womble, born in 1843, was interviewed for the Federal Writer’s Project in 1937. He talked about what he experienced picking cotton in the Georgia fields. He said that the enslaved people would sometimes arrive in the fields before they could see the cotton because it was still dark outside. The field hands would hold their tools and act like they were working, but they were scared to pick the cotton because they could not see the plants clearly and feared getting them dirty. If the cotton was dirty, then they would be punished. George said that an overseer watched them all day while they worked, and if a field hand was careless with their work, they would be punished and whipped in the fields.

George said that when it was time to harvest the cotton, they had a quota to pick three-hundred pounds of cotton every day. To avoid being punished, the overseers sprinkled white sand from the fields onto the dew-soaked cotton to add pounds to their baskets.  

In the spring, the cotton was planted in tight-knit rows. The plants were tended through August. Weeding and tending to the plants took a lot of time and energy. The cotton was picked once the cotton plant flowered and the cotton bolls were ripe. The plants would yield multiple harvests throughout the fall.

Between the years 1820 to 1860, 80% of the world’s cotton production came from America. The invention of the Cotton Gin made cotton production easier because the seeds and fibers could easily be separated.

Delano, Jack, photographer. At the cotton gin on ginning at Siloam, Greene County, Georgia. Nov 1941. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, &lt;www.loc.gov/item/2017796901/&gt;.

Delano, Jack, photographer. At the cotton gin on ginning at Siloam, Greene County, Georgia. Nov 1941. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2017796901/>.

Detroit Publishing Co., Publisher. Interior of Cotton Gin. [Between 1900 and 1906] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, &lt;www.loc.gov/item/2016803106/&gt;.

Detroit Publishing Co., Publisher. Interior of Cotton Gin. [Between 1900 and 1906] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2016803106/>.

A Newspaper article talking about cotton in the Flat Rock area in 1875. The Atlanta Constitution: July 15, 1875.

A Newspaper article talking about cotton in the Flat Rock area in 1875. The Atlanta Constitution: July 15, 1875.

ARABIA: The Rocks Made Fertile

The Atlanta Constitution Newspaper: July 15, 1875

Near the thrifty and prosperous town of Lithonia is a section of the country where the soil is very thin, with flat rocks underlying it, which, due to its lack of fertility, has been known as ARABIA for many years. Old settlers and experienced farmers agree that the present crop has been the best made in DeKalb for forty-one years. The cotton yield will be from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of seed cotton per acre.

We saw one acre in cotton upon which 1,000 pounds of guano had been applied. The yield will be 3,500 pounds of seed cotton or three bales to each acre, an astonishing yield for this thin soil! The shovels are used every day to save the barnyard manure under shelters. Mr. C sowed peas a few days ago to be turned under as a great fertilizer.