The stock market crash of 1929 brought ruin to rich and poor throughout the Delta.

Tenant farmers found themselves in dire straits. Bank closings shut off financing for many Delta farmers. Crop prices plunged, as need for raw materials declined.

During the Great Depression, federal inspectors described tenant farmer existence as a “picture of squalor, filth, and poverty.”

Hard times in the rural South brought laborers and tenant farmers together into various associations during the late 1800s.

Groups such as the Agricultural Wheel sought to improve financial conditions for members.