What students think about sugar, the process of harvesting sugar cane may not be the first point of entry into the subject. Directing the discussion to the process of harvesting sugar cane open many possibilities!

Teachers can start with the popular culture representation harvesting sugar cane before moving to a more critical analysis of representations of labor, race and class in the sugar economy.

Ask students to juxtapose the wealth built by the sugar economy (as discussed on this page) and the exploitation and violence experienced by leased convicts working on sugar plantations (referenced in primary source sets 1 or 2).

To start the conversation, show a clip from the opening scene of the film 12 Years a Slave (2013). Though the clip is representative of mid-19th century enslaved labor, many of the same harvest techniques, work songs, and power dynamics were present on sugar plantations across the South. After the Civil War and prior to the mechanization of sugar can harvesting, sugar cane was harvested by hand.

Document A: A description of Fort Bend County from the 1910 Texas Almanac.

Fort Bend County

Fort Bend County is centrally situated in the Gulf coast country. Its eastern boundary is 14 miles west of Houston and 50 miles from the port of Galveston. The surface is level, and the soil is among the richest in the world. Brazos bottom and Oyster Creek lands are equal in fertility to the lands of the Nile. This valley averages 8 to 10 miles in width, and crosses the county from northwest to southeast.

It was originally covered with dense forest, but now it grows corn, cotton, sugar cane, Irish and sweet potatoes, melons, cabbage and all kinds of vegetables by car loads. The wide, open prairies on either side of the Brazos have been converted into farms, and lands that were once thought to be worthless, except for grazing, are now’ profitably cultivated, especially in rice. The prairies are crossed by numerous small streams, bordered by forests. The principal trees are live oak, black oak, walnut, burr oak, pin oak pecan. elm, cypress and cedar, and there are about 50 other varieties indigenous to the soil. The underground water supply is as abundant as that of the surface. At 20 feet deep on the prairies a fine str tum of water is found, and other strata continue about every 20 or 30 feet until. at 140 feet, a 10-inch well will afford enough water to irrigate 100 acres of rice, pumped by steam or gasoline engines. At a greater depth artesian water is procured. The yield of rice is 18 to 20 bags per acre; corn on the prairies, 20 to 40 bushels; in the bottoms, 30 to 60 bushels; cotton, one-third to one bale; sugar, 1,200 pounds; molasses, 160 gallons; Irish potatoes, 150 bushels; sweet potatoes, 200 bushels; millet, two tons; sorghum, three tons. The manufacture of sugar is extensive. The Sugarland refinery, the largest in the South, and the only one In Texas, is situated 10 miles east of Richmond. There are four sugar mills in the county, with a combined daily capacity of 2,300 tons of cane. There are about 13.000 acres of land under irrigation. Two large irrigating companies pump water into Jones Creek, which is used as a reservoir, then lifting it to canals; these water 11,000 acres of land. Another pumping plant obtains water from a lake and feeds a rice farm of 1,000 acres. There are three small plants deriving water from artesian wells. The principal fruits are figs, peaches and pears; some citrus fruits were planted last year. Experiments with these fruits have proven their adaptability to Fort Bend County soils and climate, and the acreage will probably be increased. Truck farming is an important industry. Last year there were 350 car loads of potatoes shipped, and several car loads of mixed vegetables, containing cabbage, cucumbers, onions, etc. Petroleum oil exists in large quantities at Damond Mound and Blue Ridge. Natural gas has been found in paying quantities, and is being used at Thompson and Blue Ridge. Salt and sulphur deposits are also found near Damond Mound. Brick clay is found in abundance. The average price of raw lands is $15 per acre, cultivated lands $35. Cattle raising is one of the leading Industries of the county. Last year there were 31,921 cattle, 5,151 horses and mules and 360 hogs. The assessed wealth of the county amounted to $13,833,040. The county’s railroads have 143.59 miles of track, operated by the following lines: The Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio, and Victoria branch; the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, the San Antonio and Aransas Pass, the Sugarland, the International and Great Northern, and the Imperial Valley. The Imperial Valley Railway is projected north from its terminus at Harlem State farm. There are 67 public schools in the county. There are a number of Industrial enterprises, chief among which are five cotton gins, one hardwood saw mill, brick and tile factories, and the sugar mills and refinery above mentioned. The county has a population of about 19,000. Richmond, the county seat, has 1,600 and Rosenberg 1,000.

Document B: A description of sugar cane from a 1950s advertisement of the Dew Brothers plantation in Fort Bend County, Texas.

Sugar Cane– “Indian Corn’s Sweet Sister,” is planted by laying the stalks in the furrows and covering with a plow. One planting will produce for several years. It has no enemies, and the territory within which it will produce is limited.

It is planted in Mach and harvested in October. The Cane blades are stripped, and the tops cut off, and both used as stock feed.  The stalks are cut– as one would Corn– and sold to the sugar mills to be made into Sugar and Syrup.

An average crop on this on this plantation has been twenty-five tons per acre, and have run high as thirty-five to forty tons. The present market is four dollars per ton. And the chances are excellent that for a good many years an equally good price will maintain.

Document C & D: An image from the prison farm in Sugar Land. Early 1900s. In Document C, Five wagon loads of freshly cut sugar cane are pulled by two mules. Two men are visible in the picture. The man in the foreground is riding on one of the mules pulling the wagon. He is in striped attire, suggesting he is a convict laborer. A second man rides the third mule in the background alongside the end of the wagon load. In Document D, sugar cane is lifted from a mule-drawn wagon by a large crane. Three men stand near a small framed structure and watch the crane remove the sugar cane 

Document E: Two Women sit on the back of a 7 car train with sugar cane overflowing from the top of each car. 

This way to Primary Source Set 1