Rural land ownership among the negroes of Virginia with special reference to Albemarle county

Foreword

The present essay, which for simplicity has been divided into seven chapters, is the result of the writer's investigations during his incumbency of the Phelps-Stokes Fellowship at the University of Virginia during the session of 1914-15. While the subject is too great to be treated adequately in so limited a time it is hoped that the following pages may at least suggest the differences in economic condition between urban and rural negroes and eventually, perhaps, lead to an exhaustive study of the subject. Like all social questions the negro problem must be analyzed under the special conditions of time and place before there can be any intelligent basis for action, and it was with the purpose of increasing the present inadequate fund of such knowledge that the present study was undertaken.

My thanks for helpful advice on the ways and means of undertaking the study are especially due to Dr. Thos. W. Page, of the University of Virginia; Professor W. M. Hunley, of the Virginia Military Institute ; Dr. J. H. Dillard, Director of the Jeannes Fund, Charlottesville, Va. ; and Mr. D. Hiden Ramsey, of Asheville, N. C. ; and to Dr. Chas. W. Kent, of the University of Virginia, who read the manuscript. Messrs. N. T. Mc- Mannaway, of Charlottesville ; P. T. Atkinson, of Hampden- Sidney ; B. E. Copenhaver, of Marion ; and R. A. Folkes, of Gloucester gave valuable information on school conditions which could not have been obtained from any other source and to that degree increase whatever value the present study may have.

S. T. Bitting.

New York City,

November, ig 75.

CHAPTER I. Modern Agricultural Virginia

The system of land tenure and the possibility of a large staple crop early determined the type of agricultural economy which was to become typical of Colonial Virginia. In response to the demand for cheap labor created by this large scale agriculture negro slavery was soon introduced into the commonwealth and became an organic part of the economic organization. For about two centuries this system prospered, but finally, when good land became scarce in the nineteenth century it weakened, and indeed all but gave way several decades before emancipation actually occurred. But it did remain until the War, and the plantation was characteristic of agriculture in the Old Dominion except in the Valley where small farms were the rule. The negro slaves were most numerous in the tobacco raising sections of the South side. With the War between the States and the abolition of slavery, however, it became apparent that a complete agricultural and industrial revolution had begun.

At the close of the War Virginia found itself doubly handicapped because not only had its economic organization been completely overturned but its fields had been the scene of destructive battles prohibiting for the time production of any sort. Thomas Nelson Page says : "The disorganization of the laboring class in Virginia and the condition of her transportation facilities, coupled with universal lack of means at the time, almost destroyed her agriculture. * * The old planter

system proved generally wholly unsuited to the new conditions and under the continued depression of agriculture, and such agricultural products as it had been the custom to raise in Virginia, it almost entirely disappeared. When labor only gave a half-year's work for a full year's hire, only that man could afford to farm who was independent of labor. Thus, the old planter class gradually passed away, the young representatives of it going to the cities and seeking other fields of enterprise for application of their faculties, and their place has been taken by the small farmer who works at the plow himself or hires a few 'hands' to work under his own eye." 1 And during the years that immediately followed the War it was the small farmer who suffered the least, for the planter, burdened with land, was unable to follow similar simple methods. Indeed, the complete prostration of the planting section of the State is almost beyond comprehension. Page says of this section: "It was not only that property values had been swept away, but that everything except the bare land from which property values can be created had been extirpated. The entire personal property of the state had been destroyed; the laboring class of a country dependent upon its agriculture had been suddenly changed from laborers into vagrants, with no property to make them conservative and no authority to hold them in check. Their dependence was suddenly shifted from their former masters to strangers, whose indirect, if not their direct teaching was hostile to their former owners. The country was left overwhelmed with debt, with nothing remaining with which the debts could be paid." 2 It was amid such conditions that the people of Virginia addressed themselves to the new order. For a few years the old system in the tobacco counties survived by its inertia and the people went about planting on borrowed money. But such a system would have been unsnited to the new conditions under any circumstances, and under the conditions of the Reconstruction Period every energy was paralyzed by exterior forces. The result was that Virginia and more especially that section of the state known as the "Black Belt," where conditions approximate those in the Gulf States, was withdrawn for several decades from the common movement of progress and the incubus of a body of homeless and helpless ex-slaves weighed on her heavilv. The effect of the changed conditions was, indeed, serious in direct proportion to the number of negroes; the greatest problem was presented in the Black Belt, while in the upper Piedmont Section adjustment was 'much easier, and in the Valley the evil consequences of the complete social and industrial upheaval were reduced to a minimum.

1. Thos. Xelson Page. "The Old Dominion." 325-f

RURAL LAND OWNERSHIP J

At the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox the soldiers of the Confederacy were allowed to "keep their horses." "They will need them," said General Grant, "when they get home for the spring plowing." The need was a crying one ; soldiers returned home after four long years to find their lands as war-worn as they themselves, and the horses which they rode were literally their only dependence for a new crop. But energy for the peaceful pursuits was not lacking, and in 1908 Page declared that there was scarcely a professional man in the state over the age of fifty who had not worked at the plough during the first few years after the war. Therefore, although to rebuild the state, was a long and difficult task and the people could not adapt themselves to the changed conditions in a day ; yet by the close of the last century the industrial revolution, so abruptly begun, had re-aligned the forces of production and real progress was well under way.

"The economic emancipation of the average white man," a Southern writer has said, "was the greatest result of the destruction of slave labor," 3 and Virginia's post-bellum progress in both agriculture and industry has amply illustrated this truth. With the downfall of the old regime capital was no longer needed to purchase labor, and the cheap lands enabled the poor man, after the immediate effects of the War were over, to become a land owner without difficulty. Such was the theory, and that it has been the actual condition is borne out by the fact that since the War the number of small farmers has steadily increased and the average size of farms decreased from 246 acres in 1870 to 118.6 in 1900. Because of the destruction of property, the loss of capital, and the almost universal bankruptcy the white sections of the state recuperated much more rapidly than did the black sections. In 1865 land in the plantation sections was a drug on the market — the burden of cultivation and taxation was greater than could be borne by the bankrupt owners — ; and in this year this class of land sold at from one-fourth to one-tenth of the price that it commanded in 1860; indeed, it

3. Walter L. Fleming, in "The South in the Building of the Nation," Vol. VI.

could seldom be sold for any appreciable amount. 4 The whites in these sections, furthermore, had little faith in free negro labor. This opinion for some years seemed to be amply justified by the fact that negroes flocked to the cities without work and to the disease-ridden army camps in such numbers that DeBow estimated that one-fourth of the negro laborers died or were disabled in the first five years of freedom. When efforts were made to cope with the situation the Freedmen's Bureau interfered '•> and the general result was to retard those sections of the state where the negro population was densest.

Today sections of Virginia in the Valley and the Southwest, where the negro population was always small, are among the richest and most prosperous agricultural districts in the entire country, and other districts in the same part of the state are destined to take their place in the same rank. But even the poorest section, finally recovered, has made rapid progress in the past two decades. A large portion of the old plantation section lying within the influence of the Chesapeake Bay has been found to be admirably adapted to truck farming, and now furnishes fruits and vegetables for the markets of the eastern cities several weeks before they can mature a hundred miles further inland. Another portion of the plantation region, the South Side, produces "bright" tobacco, which brings a far better price than that paid for common leaf : and in yet other portions new resources are being developed. Under the changed conditions the farmer has learned the value of land and labor as factors in production and this has taught him "where to take in and where to let out ;" he no longer confines himself to the staple crops and he raises more stock than he formerly did. And of equal importance is the more scientific basis of modern agriculture which not only increases production but makes the farm again attractive to the representatives of the old planting class.

While it would be out of place here to go into the enormous

4. Ibid.

5. See Chap. II belov industrial strides that have been made in Virginia — and, for that matter, all over the South— since the Reconstruction Period, it will be well before going on to an outline of the present agricultural conditions to briefly call attention to Virginia's industrial resources. The improvement of transportation facilities in the eighties, and since that time, was the beginning of the new era. The railroads penetrated the forests and the timber proved a great field for new enterprise, while the trans-Appalachian railways, which were actually opened in 1882 under the direction of Major Jed Hotchkiss, made possible the development of the great coal fields and gave a stimulus to manufacturing. In 1907 the Pocahontas Fields (Virginia and West Virginia) produced 17,000,000 tons of coal whereas the second largest output, that of the Alabama fields, only totalled 14,500,000 tons. Other mineral deposits such as cement, gypsum, phosphate, etc., have likewise been extensively developed in recent years and have had a consequent effect upon industry. Under the stimulus of the factory new towns are now springing up, and in the older manufacturing towns, Richmond. Lynchburg, Roanoke, and others there has been a rapid increase in population. The general business revival which took place about 1880 was in itself of considerable aid to Virginia industry and the demand which it produced for Southern raw material increased the working capital necessary for the establishment of factories, while Northern capital began to come South as understanding supplanted misunderstanding. About this time, furthermore, the people began to see that if labor was to be honored it must be sufficiently diversified to accommodate the different aptitudes of classes and races and by 1880 the old Virginia factories had been placed on a firm foundation while their number and equipment was beginning to be rapidly increased by home and outside capital.

Thomas Nelson Page sums up the recent progress : "The conditions have of late been changing. Virginia, instead of being,

6. Article by E. W. Parker in "The South in the Building of the Nation," VI, 175.

as the cant phrase went, - a good place to come from' has become once more a good place to come to. Her advantages of location and climate have ever been recognized, and of late other advantages also have been discovered. Her transportation facilities have been steadily improving, her mineral resources have attracted the attention of capital, and, being examined, have been found to be wonderful both in quantity and quality. Her coal produces the highest speed in the ocean racers and her iron brings the best prices at the Northern forges." 7 Or, as Chancellor J. H. Kirkland says of the South, "she is now sending iron to Pennsylvania and coal to Newcastle."

TABLE I: VIRGINIA MANUFACTORIES.

1899 1904 1909

Persons engaged S8.898 120,797

Proprietors 3 < 643 6 ' 5T0

The above table shows the development of manufactures in the state during the last census period. In the order of their importance the manufactured goods of Virginia are: timber products over thirty-five million dollars, tobacco over twenty-five millions, flour seventeen millions, car and shop work nine millions, fertilizer eight millions, leather eight millions, and cotton goods seven millions. The value of the gross product, which was $220,000,000 in 1909 was in 1870 barely $38,000,000 and

Thos. Nelson Page, "The Old Dominion,"

in 1880 about $52,000,000. 8 From these figures the progress of industry is apparent, but although these interests are important and varied, agriculture continues to be the principal producer of wealth and the occupation of the majority of the people.

The State of Virginia is geographically divided into several sections, and since these divisions are closely related to the different types of agriculture and negro population, it will be instructive to note their natural differences. There are, in general, three principal divisions namely: Tidewater, Piedmont and Middle Virginia, and the Valley and the Southwest.

Tidewater Virginia, or the Coastal Plain, comprises about one-fourth of the state, and stretches along the eastern side from the Chesapeake to the fall line of the Atlantic rivers. It consists altogether of low land while a considerable portion of it lying nearest the bay consists of marshes that are reached by the ocean tide. It is essentially an alluvial country and by reason of its soil and climate has been found to be particularly adapted to trucking. It is within twelve hours of 20,000,000 consumers and its small fruits and vegetables find a ready market in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. The trade in strawberries, peanuts, and potatoes is especially large, and even ten years ago yielded annually over $12,000,000. 9

Piedmont and Middle Virginia, which for the present purposes may be considered together, consist of the broad alluvial level and rolling lands west of the Tidewater. The principal products of Middle Virginia are corn, wheat, oats, hay and tobacco. The tobacco raised on the South Side is that known as "Virginia leaf" and has a world-wide reputation for its excellence, while in Halifax, Pittsylvania, and Henry Counties the famous "bright" tobacco is raised. Near the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge fruits of excellent quality are produced in considerable quantities.

The Valley, the Southwest and the Appalachian region comprise the balance of the state. The great Valley, as it is called, lies between the two mountain chains that extend throughout the

8. Cf. Census Reports for respective dates.

9. Virginia Handbook, 1907.

state, and includes parts of the valleys of Shenendoah, James, Roanoke, Kanawha, and the Houston or Tennessee. Its principal crops are fruits and cereals, and, in the Southwest, cattle — this section having the distinction of being the only exporter of fattened cattle direct from the pastures.

Such, in brief, are the geographical divisions of the state and it is apparent that they afford great agricultural diversity. In his inaugural address ex-Governor Swanson said : 10 "No State in the Union has richer or more varied resources than Virginia. * * * In extreme Southside Virginia are seen great white fields of cotton, as rich in beauty and luxuriant in growth as can be found in North Carolina or Georgia. In Piedmont and Southern Virginia are produced the great crops of tobacco 1 which largely contribute to the world's supply. The magnificent Valley of Virginia, raising great crops of wheat, corn, oats and hay, is almost unspeakable in her prodigality and production. The beautiful hilltops and mountains of Southwest and Northern Virginia, with their spontaneous and perennial growth of blue grass, have browsing on them herds of cattle and sheep. * * * In eastern and Tidewater Virginia we have large truck farms and gardens, which furnish the vast population of the Eastern cities with their vegetables and foods. The profits of this industry are already immense, but the industry is still in its infancy and its possibilities for the future are immeasurable. Nowhere can fruit grow to greater perfection than in Virginia, and her great crops of apples, peaches, and grapes are bringing immense returns and have brighter promise for the future. There is not a farm product known to the temperate zone that can not be raised in the varied soil, climate and conditions of Virginia. Everywhere in the state are seen evidences of intelligent and scientific farming, of progress and prosperity. The increase in farm products and values in recent years has been striking and excelled by few states in the Union." These passages do not exaggerate when they point out the diversity of agricultural products.

Certain figures derived from the last census may be of benefit

10. Quoted from address of Feb. 1, 1906.

in giving an idea of present agricultural conditions within the state. In the first place, according to the census, more than three-fourths of the entire area of the state is in farms, thus placing Virginia distinctly in the class of agricultural states. With the exception of fifteen counties — seven in the mountains and eight on the coast — the proportion of farm land to total area is three-fifths or more and of these eighty-five counties, eleven — Scott, Grayson, Carrol, Floyd, Franklin, Pittsylvania. Halifax, Caroline, King George, Clark, and Loudon — have over ninety per cent of their area in farms.

The average value of farm lands for the whole state, according to the census, is $20.24 per acre, with an average value of less than $10 in thirteen counties and over $50 in five. More than half of the counties (58) show an average value of between $10 and $25 — these with those valued at less than $10 per acre occupy most of the South-central portion of the state which was formerly the Black Belt. Of the twenty-four counties valued at between $25 and $50, eight are in the Southwest, ten are in the Northern Neck, and the remaining six include Chesterfield and five coast counties.

During the last census period there was an increase of 16,132 farms or 9.6%, coincident with an increase of 11.2% in the general population of the State. The average size of farms decreased from 118.6 to 105.9 acres. The total value of farm property, which includes land, implement, livestock, buildings, and poultry was in 1910 $625,065,000 or 93.2% greater than in 1900. The value of land alone increased 96.7% as compared with increases of 93.6% in the value of buildings, 82.8% in implements, and 78.2% in stock. The average value of a farm, including its equipment, is $3,397, or an increase of 76.3% since 1900. In Tennessee, a State comparable to Virginia, the increase in the value of farm property was 79%, as compared with Virginia's 93.2%."

Tabulated, Virginia's progress in agriculture since 1870, when the immediate effects of the war were over, appears as follows:

11. The decrease in the purchasing power of money makes all of these figures more apparent than real.

TABLE II:

PROGRESS

IN AGR

ICULTURE

Per ceni in last

1910 decai

1,225,163

1,512,565

1,655,980

1,854,184

2,061,612 11.

73,849

118,517*

127,600

167,886

Land in farmst

18,145,911

19,835,785

19.104.951

19,907,883

19.495.636 -2,

Imp. land in farms

8,165,040

8,510,113

9,125,545

10,094,805

9,807,058 -2.

Acres per farm. . .

245.7

167.4

149.7

118.6

105.9§-10.

Value per farm...

$2,666

$2,088

$2,308

$1,927

$3,397 7

Total val. farms..

$196,906,040 $

247,476,536 $

294,488,569

$325,515,977

$625,065,383 93.

Per cent, of farms operated by owners

70.5%

73.1%

69.3%

By tenants

29.5%

26.9

30.7

26.5

Val. land and bldgs.

per acre

$9.39

$10.89

$13.32

$13.64

$27.29 100$

As shown by the table the increase in the value of farm property in forty years amounts to $428,159,000 of which $50,570,000 is credited to the first decade, $47,012,000 to the second, $29,027,000 to the third, and over three hundred million to the last. All classes of farm property show increases for each decade which are in fact considerable, and only seem small when compared with those of the last. In 1870 the plantation, which had been the agricultural unit before the war, still existed to a considerable extent, and the attempt to continue the old methods accounts for the large farms of that year. During the last thirty years these large estates have been divided into smaller farms, and either sold or operated by tenants.

The matter of land tenure is especially important when dealing with negro farmers, because in the lower South tenantry occupies the great majority of negro agricultural workers. In 1910 the number of farms in Virginia was 184,018 and of the tTotal land area of State, 25,767,680 acres.

fit will be seen that more than a reasonable advance was made in the previous decade for an old farming country.

§In Tennessee the average size farm is 81.5 acres, worth $23.98 per acre.

operators 133,664 are classed as owners, and 48,729 as tenants. Of the owners 15,700 rent additional acreage and of the tenants 11,143 are cash, 1,208 share-cash, and 33A72 share. The balance are not reported in the census. The number of tenants reporting in 1910 represent a gain of 39.3% since 1880 but the gain has been fluctuating and there was a decrease of nearly 3,000 between 1900 and 1910. The proportion of tenants to all farmers which was 29.5', , in 1880, was only 26.5% in 1910, this being the lowest proportion shown for any census. In 1910 75.5% of all land in farms was operated by owners, (the estimate includes part owners), 3.4% by managers, and 21.1%. by tenants, the percentage for owners being higher and that for tenants and managers lower than in 1900.

TABLE III: TENURE OF FARMS.

All 190O

Owners 6S%

Managers 1.3$

Tenants 30. V,

It is shown by the table that the proportion of land in farms operated by owners showed a slight increase among the white farmers and a decided increase among the negro farmers. 12 The average white farm in 1910 was 127 acres while the average negro farm was 46.5 % acres. The proportion of improved land to total farm land was slightly larger for the whites than for the negroes, being 50.8% in one case and 49.6%, in the other.

As to the size of farms those between 50 and 99 acres constituted 21.8% of the total white farms and those between 100' and 174 acres and between 20 and 49 acres constituted 21.2% and 19.1% respectively; for the negroes, farms of 20 to 49 acres constituted 34.2% while those of from 10 to 19 acres comprised 20.9% and ranked next in importance. Of farms opfarmers farmers farmers

71.2%

74.6$

59.3%

67$

1.1%

.5%

.4%

26.59!

27.3%

24.3%

32.6' :

12. Because, however, of the comparatively small number of negro owners in 1900 this increase is not so real as it is apparent.

IS PHELPS-STOKES FELLOWSHIP PAPERS

erated by negroes, 35.5% are less than 20 acres as compared with 16.6 r ; of those operated by white farmers.

As to the crops, the war effected a radical change in the old staple crop of tobacco westward to Kentucky and Tennessee; and Virginia, as the table shows, has only recently entirely recovered, although an increased consumption since 1870 has stimulated production.

TABLE IV: TOBACCO PRODUCTION.

1870 37.086,364 "

1880 79,988,868 "

1890 48,522,655 "

1900 122,884,900 "

1910 132,979.390 "

Virginia today, producing over 130 million pounds, ranks third among the tobacco producing states of the Union. Prior to the War the principal tobacco counties were Pittsylvania, Mecklenburg, Charlotte, and Albemarle and the plantations ranged from 100 to 500 acres while today tobacco farms range from 20 to 50 acres and none of the counties any longer rely solely on tobacco. Along with increased diversification and smaller farms, coupled with increased value of land and labor, goes more intensive cultivation. In 1880 Virginia raised 568 pounds of tobacco to the acre, while in 1905 this average had 1 een raised to 675 pounds, 13 a condition in part made possible by the high price of tobacco which put fertilizer within reach of the producer, but also in large measure due to the more scientific methods pursued in its production.

The following table shows the extent of diversification of crops in l r >10. It should, however, be remembered that the acreage is a better index than either the amount or value of the crops, because of the varying seasons and the variations in value of crop.

13. Article by Meyer Jacobson in "The South in the Building the Nation," VI, 69.

TABLE V: AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

Acres har-

Amount

Value vested*

$39,993,929

Peanuts 162,180

4.430,384

Hay and Forage 773,577

10,256,998

Potatoes 86,027

5,667,557

Sweets 40,838

Tobacco 1 85,427

Cotton 25.147

695 721

Cotton Seed

126.546

Sugar Crops 8,308

224,094

Miscel. Vegetables 124,350

8.989,467

123,029

Nursery Products

522.480

Small Fruits

671.843

3.770.491

Maple Sugar & Sugar....

12.223

10,118,851

. $100,531,157

$ 58,701,743

*A11 farms not reported.

Corn remains almost a universal crop, but it is often alternated with wheat. The average value per acre for corn in Virginia in 1906 was $11.55 14 or a little more than that of Iowa and the same as that for Indiana. Peanuts, which are along with cotton seed, a totally new money crop since the War, form with this staple a large part of the state's agricultural wealth. Before the War corn and tobacco were practically the only crops and today we find a diversity excelled in but very few of the states. In the matter of vegetables alone the production increased between 1890 and 1900 something like 450%, the average production of vegetables per acre being in excess of that in Ohio, where a large urban population creates a greater local

14. Year Rook of State Dept. of Agriculture (Unit',), demand for truck garden products. Among the cereals corn ranks first, representing two thirds of the acreage and five sevenths of the total value. Since 1880 the corn acreage has increased slightly while oats have decreased and wheat has remained practically the same.

Statistics are not always convincing, but where they are so striking as those which show the progress of Virginia in industry, commerce, agriculture, and the other sources of wealth, it is at once apparent that the Old Dominion is rapidly restoring its wealth and building up its waste places. It is no longer dependent upon negro labor — though for many purposes it is still preferred — and the farmers have shown their ability to practice diversification and concentration. With the industrial advances, furthermore, the vocations of the people are becoming more diversified ; the professional men of ante-bellum days are entering industry, commerce, and finance and, applying their talents, are increasing production.

These changed economic conditions, which afford wider and more varied opportunities for earning a livelihood, have an important bearing upon race relations and it is only in the light of actual present day conditions that they can be intelligently considered. In Virginia, where the contact between the races has been intimate, the negro problem was never so serious as in the Gulf States where the proportion of negro population is greater and where the negroes work largely as field hands without coming into direct contact with the whites. Under the new order of things, however, the inter-racial relations have been altered and the negro's wider field of economic activity has altered his status.

As would normally be expected, the great economic changes which have taken place within the last few decades have affected the employment of the negroes. The ratio between black and white population is, to be sure, considerably smaller than it was immediately after the War, and the ratio of negro farm workers would naturally be smaller, but in addition to this the small farm movement, where less hired help is required, has tended to take away the employment of many negroes. That there is no excessive supply of negro labor as a result of this, however, seems to be shown by the fact that there has been no decrease in the rate of wages but rather a steady increase too great to be accounted for by the decreased purchasing power of money. Many of the negroes have entered transportation, 15 many more have entered mining, and still others are occupied in the new callings in the cities. Of recent years the number of negro artisans in the state has been decreasing and the industrial revival has not found it practicable to use negro laborers as factory operatives (except in the tobacco factories), but they have entered the allied industries of transportation, mining, and lumbering in large numbers. Thus while negroes are not employed directly as a result of the increased number of factories, the wider industrial development has increased the number of vocations which they may enter.