"Cotton market"This circa 1908 photograph depicts a cotton market in Covington, Tennessee. During the 1800s, West Tennessee emerged as an agricultural region dominated by plantations that used enslaved laborers to grow cash crops for export. Cotton was the predominant cash crop in West Tennessee because the plant was well-suited to that region's climate and soil. Most of the cotton was shipped down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, where it was sent to the textile factories of England and New England.
Following the end of the Civil War and the emancipation of enslaved people, cotton farmers turned to the sharecropper system. This system remained in place until events such as the Great Migration, floods, droughts, and the Great Depression and successive New Deal crop reduction programs caused its decline. Cotton remained an important crop for West Tennessee throughout the 1940s and 1950s with mechanical pickers and tractors aiding production, but today it is no longer the cash crop it once was.
This source from our Looking Back at Tennessee Collection can be used to teach about Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, the impact of technological developments on the industrial economy, and the growth of Memphis and West Tennessee as a center for the cotton economy.
It is It is relevant to Tennessee state social studies standards 4.20, 8.34, 8.37, and 8.38.
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2025-2026 Educator Workshop Series
Join us for this free professional development experience, where we will collaboratively explore strategies for teaching topics such as Prohibition, the Scopes Trial, popular culture, the causes of the Great Depression, and more through activities aligned with the Tennessee social studies curriculum standards.
Here are the dates for the Spring 2026 semester:
To register, click on the location above most convenient for you.
For more information on our workshop series, please visit our website.
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Workshop Series Teachers in Johnson City, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville had a “roaring” good time at our 1920s-focused workshops in October and November! They learned all about our resources, analyzed primary sources, performed their own radio shows, and played a stock market game. It was the bee’s knees!
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Spotlight on Women's Suffrage DocsBoxIf you haven’t used our Women’s Suffrage DocsBox, now is a great time to reserve one! DocsBoxes, which are free-to-use, ready-made teaching kits, include activity guides, tons of primary and secondary sources, and reproductions of historical items. The Women’s Suffrage box comes with special items such as ribbons and sashes, yellow and red roses, and a brand-new breakout game!
To reserve this box, please visit our website here!
If you are interested in any of our other DocsBoxes, we offer topics ranging from the Civil War to Vietnam. In addition to those topics, we also offer 4th, 5th, and 8th grade review DocsBoxes.
To reserve your DocsBox, please visit our website here.
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Join us at the Tennessee Council for the Social Studies Conference!The Tennessee Council for the Social Studies (TCSS) is having its annual conference on February 26 and 27, 2026, at the Hilton Memphis. The theme this year is “250 Years Strong: Civic Engagement from the Revolution to Today.” There will be 36 breakout sessions, as well as exhibitors and door prizes.
The Library & Archives will have a vendor table, so please stop by to see us!
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