Mo’ Curious podcast: The story behind this dramatic event.
Back in 1939, the world was a different place. For one thing, there were a lot more people involved in farming. In the Bootheel of Missouri, this meant cotton. Under the sharecropper model, those Missourians who grew cotton had no guarantees of a wage. They could be evicted anytime from the land on which they lived and worked.
In this episode of Mo’ Curious, we learn about the 1939 sharecroppers strike in Mississippi County, Missouri. It was on January 1 of that Depression year that Bootheel tenant farmers, or sharecroppers, participated in a protest. They camped on the roadside to draw attention to the deplorable economic and housing conditions that kept them impoverished and dependent.
For two months, fifteen hundred Missourians lived their lives on the side of Highway 60 between Sikeston and Charleston.
In order to bring a better understanding of the strike to area youth, we asked Charleston High School students to conduct oral history interviews. These interviews aimed to explain the strike and its legacy on the surrounding communities.
Mo’ Curious by Missouri Life Media is a podcast about the past, present, and future of the 24th state. Hear past episodes at MoCurious.com.
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November 28, 1939
It was "Black Tuesday" in St. Louis. A cloud of thick smoke covered downtown. The streetlights had to be turned on and traffic was snarled because motorists couldn't see where they were going.