Following the Civil War, formerly enslaved residents of the Ag Reserve faced the same difficult conditions of African Americans across the south. While free, there was now much work to do building communities, erecting churches and schools, and finding work. With few alternatives, many formerly enslaved returned to work the same fields they had worked in prior years, but this time as sharecroppers and tenant farmers.
Throughout the Ag Reserve, the last remains of these tenant farmers’ residences can still be sometimes found – frequently deep in the woods and under relentless attack from Mother Nature. The homes are simple in plan and construction, but signify a complex and difficult environment within which these farmers once lived, loved, and worked. We shouldn’t forget it.
