An African-American farm cooperatives produced almost half of the cotton on the Sea Islands. (43) Just outside of Charleston, some 100 African-American families purchased farms priced between $100-$500 each. They maintained subsistence gardens on them as well as held jobs in Charleston, South Carolina. This also occurred under supervision of the reconstruction era Freedman Bureau. Further inland, freedman bought and rented land in order to farm. Another group collectively chartered a railroad car to bring cotton and food crops they produced to market to sell and returning with clothing, furniture, farm equipment for their next crop. They also came to recruit a teacher for their community and committed to pay all their candidates expenses. The first year they work to meet their needs. The second year they invested in purchasing livestock and equipment, the third year they rented land and by the fourth year many prepared to purchase property. That it been the case for the most ambitious.
