The Formation and Transition of the Immigration Communities in the Mississippi Delta during the Early Twentieth Century

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K01091
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 03040:History of Europe and America-related
• Research Institution: Kindai University
• Principal Investigator: IZAWA MASAOKI 近畿大学, 経済学部, 准教授 (40611942)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 移民政策 / ミシシッピ・デルタ / 債務奴隷 / 労働斡旋業者 / 綿花農園

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research analyzed the Sunnyside plantation of the Arkansas Chico county based on the Peonage Files of the U. S. Federal Department of Justice and the Percy Family Papers in order to reexamine the failure factor of the immigration policy in the U. S. South. In this research, it was summarized that the research result about the situation of an Italian farmers not having been inferior rather than the having been thought. The failure factor of the immigration policy in the U. S. South was due to advantageous settlement conditions and raised their economic independence. Therefore, Most of the Italian farmers had moved from the cotton plantation of the delta to the plantation in northwestern part of Missouri.

Free Research Field

アメリカ史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

この研究の意義は20世紀初頭、南部移民政策の実態と挫折の背景を明らかにした点にある。移民入植地の実態は家族定住型の移住者にとって比較的良好であった。その一方、鉄鋼、鉱山、鉄道建設現場の単身出稼ぎ型の場合、劣悪かつ過酷な労働環境となった。さらに、家族定住型の場合、移民にとって有利な条件が整えられていたため、移民家族の経済的自立を高めた。その結果、彼らは同郷者を頼って新天地で自作農や自営業者に転じ、南部を去った。しかし、入植後、死別、病気、多産等によって極貧となった者は借金によって農園に滞留し労働意欲を喪失していった。