Raggedy, Raggedy Are We: Sharecropping and Survival

Abstract

In 1982, John Handcox attended a 48-year reunion of about 150 surviving members of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union (STFU) held at the historic First Baptist Church on Beale Street in Memphis. A reporter pictured Handcox at 78 years of age as “a lean, white-bearded black man.” Asked to describe the conditions of 1934, John recalled that on the big plantations, “The highest-paid hand was 75 cents. He worked from can to can’t. That’s from the time you can see till the time you can’t. They used to ring the bell at 5 a.m., and you had to get down to the barn and harness the mule by lantern light.” Asked about his song, “Raggedy, Raggedy Are We,” John recalled, “It was written for rough, tough, raggedy times” when one could tell country folk from city dwellers because they “was all patched up, had them raggedy clothes on ‘em.” He also volunteered: If I wrote a song today it would be about hard times. I could write one about modern conditions if I wanted to. They don’t exactly compare to the ‘30s, but they’re still hard. A lot of folks are out of work. If it wasn’t for social security, it would be pitiful. The social security it not enough to live on, but it’s enough to exist. I’m one of the fortunate poor because I’ve always had enough to eat. My stomach was never in danger of collapsing. It will do that, you know, if you don’t get something between your f ont and your back. 1