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“Greetings, You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12PM SHARP with your belongings,” reads one text message received by a resident in Washington, D.C ...
Dozens of Black people across the country said they have received text messages telling them they had been “selected” to pick cotton “at the nearest plantation.”
Picking cotton was often a subject which was mentioned in songs by African-American blues and jazz musicians in the 1920s–1940s, reflecting their grievances. In 1940, jazz pianist Duke Ellington composed "Cotton Tail" and blues musician Lead Belly wrote "Cotton Fields". In 1951, Big Mama Thornton wrote "Cotton Picking Blues."
The origin of the texts is unknown, with some of them apparently being routed through Poland using anonymizing software. [8] By November 15, twenty-six states and Washington D.C reporting the messages including Alabama, California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
The cotton industry played a significant role in the development of the American economy, with the production of cotton being the major source of income for slave owners in the southern United States prior to the Civil War, while the transport of said cotton to English and French mills and beyond became a mainstay of Northern shipping.
The early 1920s were especially difficult financially in cotton growing regions. The boll weevil, a beetle that feeds on cotton buds and flowers, had migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s, devastating the industry and the people working in the American South.
The first harvesters were only capable of harvesting one row of cotton at a time, but were still able to replace up to forty hand laborers. The current cotton picker is a self-propelled machine that removes cotton lint and seed (seed-cotton) from the plant at up to six rows at a time. There are two types of pickers in use today.
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