But by the 1940s, the sounds of the fields began to change—-for the Delta was not static, even if it seemed eternal. The old order was cracking. Tractors & mechanical cotton pickers crept in—- metallic clattering replacing the murmur of voices. These machines were coldly efficient—-replacing entire crews of field hands with the push of a lever. They didn’t need breaks. They didn’t rebel against low wages. And they didn’t dream of freedom.
Image: M12H cotton harvester.
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White landowners embraced mechanization with a cold efficiency, reducing costs and increasing yields.
And the Delta’s people began to vanish.
Image: Rust cotton picker in cotton field, Cloverdale Plantation, Clarksdale, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi], Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer, 1939 Oct.
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