Living on the land of others
“The white tenant farmer has not always been the lazy, slipshod, good-for-nothing person he is frequently described as being. His shiftlessness, when apparent, is an occupational disease of which he is generally well aware…
This same white tenant farmer grew from child to boy to man with many of the same ambitions and incentives that motivate the lives of all human beings. He had normal instincts. He had hope.
Somewhere in the span of life he became frustrated. He felt defeated. He felt the despair and dejection that comes with defeat. He was made aware of the limitation of life imposed upon those unfortunate enough to be made slaves of sharecropping. Out of his predicament grew desperation, out of desperation grew resentment. His bitterness was a taste his tongue would always know…”
– Margaret Bourke-White & Erskine Caldwell, You Have Seen Their Faces, 1937