Hopson Plantation
Hopson Plantation, just outside Clarksdale, Mississippi, was a large, thriving farm operation.
Today the Hopson Preservation Company is an organization created by Clarksdale area business leaders to help preserve and protect the historic Hopson Commissary and to keep alive that Delta heritage.
The Hopson Plantation Commissary stands today in much the same condition as in its glory (?) days over fifty years ago. The building is full of antique and historical items which create a nostalgic atmosphere reminiscent of the deep south Delta. http://www.hopsonplantation.com/
At the Shack Up Inn (Hopson) you will find living history. Virtually unchanged from when it was a working plantation, you will find authentic sharecropper shacks, the original cotton gin, seed houses and other outbuildings. http://www.shackupinn.com/
Today the Hopson Preservation Company is an organization created by Clarksdale area business leaders to help preserve and protect the historic Hopson Commissary and to keep alive that Delta heritage.
The Hopson Plantation Commissary stands today in much the same condition as in its glory (?) days over fifty years ago. The building is full of antique and historical items which create a nostalgic atmosphere reminiscent of the deep south Delta. http://www.hopsonplantation.com/
At the Shack Up Inn (Hopson) you will find living history. Virtually unchanged from when it was a working plantation, you will find authentic sharecropper shacks, the original cotton gin, seed houses and other outbuildings. http://www.shackupinn.com/
In October-November 1939 and again in August 1940, Marion Post Wolcott (the same FSA photographer who captured some of the Clarksdale scene) found her way a few miles out of town to capture life on the Hopson Plantation.
[Some of the following photos labeled ‘1940 Aug’ show cotton that is very short and immature for August. Either the crop was somewhat late that year or these photos are mislabeled. I'm using the labels supplied by the Library of Congress.]
[Some of the following photos labeled ‘1940 Aug’ show cotton that is very short and immature for August. Either the crop was somewhat late that year or these photos are mislabeled. I'm using the labels supplied by the Library of Congress.]
First is a rather large group showing day laborers hoeing, eating, driving tractors, getting paid, etc. in 1940.
Each photo in a gallery shows slightly compressed on your display. To view one full size, just click on it. Then you'll see it full size and from there you can operate as a slide show if you prefer.
Day Labor at Hopson.
Each photo in a gallery shows slightly compressed on your display. To view one full size, just click on it. Then you'll see it full size and from there you can operate as a slide show if you prefer.
Day Labor at Hopson.
The photos below don't seem to fit neatly into any category. They show cattle operations on this primarily cotton-growing plantation in August 1940.
Hopson Cowboys.
Hopson Cowboys.
"The 'day crop', Mr. Hopson's land farmed by day labor, as well as the tenants land always produced more cotton than they could pick before bad winter weather set in. So every Fall Mr. Hopson would import one or two truck loads of Mexicans from along the Rio Grande. There would be twenty five or thirty on each truck, some entire families, and many single men. Most of them did not speak English, but the truck driver could and he was responsible for each person on his truck. They would be housed on the bank of the Sunflower River, which was for bathing and other bath room use.
We built wooden platforms with wood sides up about three feet and pitched Army type tents over this. The area inside the tent was about 18' X 18' and housed several people. We installed several of these tents in a row which provided a somewhat home like atmosphere, since they all wanted to live close together. Their stoves were a flat piece of sheet metal about 36" square mounted on four corners with about four bricks stacked on top of each other. They would fry their tortillas to make tacos, brown their hamburger meat, re-fry their beans here and have a meal. I was never tempted to want to try any of their food but now that I have acquired a taste for Mexican food, I wish I had!"
Hopson Plantation History
MY MEMOIRS
JAMES E. THWEATT
(Hopson Plantation resident 1922-1942)
We built wooden platforms with wood sides up about three feet and pitched Army type tents over this. The area inside the tent was about 18' X 18' and housed several people. We installed several of these tents in a row which provided a somewhat home like atmosphere, since they all wanted to live close together. Their stoves were a flat piece of sheet metal about 36" square mounted on four corners with about four bricks stacked on top of each other. They would fry their tortillas to make tacos, brown their hamburger meat, re-fry their beans here and have a meal. I was never tempted to want to try any of their food but now that I have acquired a taste for Mexican food, I wish I had!"
Hopson Plantation History
MY MEMOIRS
JAMES E. THWEATT
(Hopson Plantation resident 1922-1942)
Wolcott took these photos October-November 1939. They show several Mexican families (nine?) picking cotton on Hopson. At least nine 'family' tents along with several other temporary structures have been erected near the Sunflower River. In contrast to Mr Thweatt's tents, these have no "wood sides up about three feet," just canvas. The vehicles (two automobiles, one pickup truck and a large flatbed truck) show Texas tags.
Mexican Pickers
"In the late 30's the mechanical cotton picker was being born by International Harvester Tractor Co. Every Fall a crew of mechanical engineers from Chicago would come to Hopson Plantation to continue perfecting the cotton picker. [They had been doing this since 1927. - Gene] They would work under the shed attached to the shop. I got to know them by hanging around the shop after school. As I remember they were robust, red-faced Germans dressed in nice khaki uniforms and wore large safety glass lens glasses. They were all business and never said much to me nor me to them. The first picker that they worked on was a single row picker that bolted on to one of Mr. Hopson's tractors. Amazingly, the very first rotating tooth attached to a rotating drum was the most successful of any and as far as I know it is still used today. Those German engineers didn't come in on a load of turnips!"
Hopson Plantation History
MY MEMOIRS
JAMES E. THWEATT
(Hopson Plantation resident 1922-1942)
In 1944, Hopson went totally mechanical - mechanical seed planters that planted in 'hills' [no 'chopping' (thinning) needed], all-tractor cultivation and the new mechanical wonder - the cotton picker - for gathering the cotton for ginning. It had been over one hundred fifty years developing (from Eli Whitney 1793 to Rust Brothers & International Harvester 1944) but, finally, cotton production was being mechanized. Totally. You can date the beginning of the Great Migration North by the black workers from this event. (Abetted by the end of World War II and higher wages in manufacturing plants, most of which were in the North.)
Hopson Plantation History
MY MEMOIRS
JAMES E. THWEATT
(Hopson Plantation resident 1922-1942)
In 1944, Hopson went totally mechanical - mechanical seed planters that planted in 'hills' [no 'chopping' (thinning) needed], all-tractor cultivation and the new mechanical wonder - the cotton picker - for gathering the cotton for ginning. It had been over one hundred fifty years developing (from Eli Whitney 1793 to Rust Brothers & International Harvester 1944) but, finally, cotton production was being mechanized. Totally. You can date the beginning of the Great Migration North by the black workers from this event. (Abetted by the end of World War II and higher wages in manufacturing plants, most of which were in the North.)
That International Harvester cotton picker is the star of our next gallery. These photos are from Wolcott's October/November 1939 visit.
Mechanization Takes Command
Gin
