Mr. DAVIS: (As 47) We both knew that I was safe from Mr. Stewart until I grew big enough to pick cotton.

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This led owners to experiment with ways of increasing the pace of labor, Rosenthal explains, such as holding contests with small cash prizes for those who picked the most cotton, and then requiring the winners to pick that much cotton from there on out.

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Once a year at harvest time, the local cotton company sends a four-wheel-drive truck to pick up his sacks of cotton.

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He went out every day to basically chop cotton and pick coffee for the plantation owner where he lived.

BBC

Southerners are now more likely to live in suburbs than in shacks, to pick stocks instead of cotton, and to wear shoes.

ECONOMIST: Baby, look at you now