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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 171
T.C. and R. E. Brooks as owners of the property (E-234) on the south side of the road below the eastern half of Cartwright's property. The road appears to be where Redstone Road is now. Brooks had more than a dozen sharecroppers. Life as a Renter or Sharecropper. Georgia proceeded to discuss Ed Brooks. She explained: In July you'd be through chopping weeds. You'd lay the crop back. [What does lay the crop back mean?] You didn't want to knock the bolls off. You were through then until you open up for picking. You'd pick in August. Now you can't get the cotton in early enough. In July, Ed Brooks ran the people off. One man, John King, said, “I made the cotton, and I'm going to stay here and get it. We'll settle up by my books. He kept his books, just like Ed Brooks kept his. John King stayed. They settled it by his books. He [Brooks] was scared of him. Georgia said this sometimes happened to sharecroppers: “They planted, chopped, and laid it by, then the landowner made them move.” They had no recourse but to move. The landowner furnished so much money to make the crop (seed, food, etc.), which would be about $20 to $50 a month. When the crop was in, they settled up. Sometimes when the field was laid back, the land owner would tell the sharecropper that he'd already received, in credit, all he'd had coming to him, and the sharecropper had to move. Then he would have no place to live and would have to work for a wage at whatever he could find. Georgia added that Mr. Cartwright, the man who furnished her daddy, “was a good man. He ran a grocery store in town on the south side of the courthouse, joined to TT Terry's store.” She said: He was a wonderful man to deal with. He was fair. If you needed something, you'd go get it and pay when the crop came. There was only one house on the land where we worked. We moved away and stayed five years. Mr. Cartwright said, “Come back home.” [Taking note that Georgia said there was only one house on the land where they worked, it is noted that one archaeological site is recorded on that parcel, 1Ma704.] Church. Georgia went to the Missionary Baptist Church (Gaines Chapel), founded in 1911. She said she moved to this church when she was very small, in about 1921. She mentioned that Cedar Grove Church was located up on a hill, not too far from Redstone Arsenal Gate 1 on Buxton Road. A section of the Army Real Estate Map showing the properties in the area where Georgia Lacy Lanier lived is presented on the following page. Frank Lacy, who owned Parcels F-231 and F-233 was her uncle. 171 - (4204)