Up before daybreak : cotton and people in America
(Book)

Uncorrected proof.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acclaimed author Deborah Hopkinson traces the history of the cotton industry in America through the centuries, from colonial times to the middle of the twentieth century. Through oral histories, she captures the voices of the forgotten men, women, and children who worked in the cotton industry, while her compelling prose lends poignancy, humor and sometimes sorrow to the narratives of the slaves who toiled in the South, the poor sharecroppers who barely got by, and the girls who gave their lives to the New England mills.