The Warmth of Other Suns Lesson Plan

What does Ida Mae's life in in Chickasaw County, Mississippi, demonstrate about the difficulties of the sharecropping system?

Ida Mae and George's experience working for a white planter named Mr. Edd demonstrates the demanding, oppressive, and unpredictable life of sharecropping. Ida Mae and George worked, literally, from dawn till dusk in the fields. In order to meet the daily quotas for weight, they had to work quickly and efficiently, but often this was still not enough, and they resorted to tricks to increase the weight of their harvest. The hours were not just long, they were physically exhausting. They worked in blistering heat, bent over in a way that caused back...