Peonage

Peonage is a labor system where laborers are bound in servitude until their debts are paid in full. Those bound by such a system are known as peons.

Employers typically force laborers to buy from employer-owned stores at inflated prices in order to keep them in debt.

Peonage systems have existed in many places at many times throughout history. Some examples of peonage are:

The American South - Such a system was often used in the southern United States after the American Civil War where African-American and poor white farmers, known as sharecroppers, were often forced to purchase seed and supplies from the owner of the land they farmed and pay the owner in a share of the crop.

In Peru a peonage system existed from the 1500s until land reform in the 1950s. One estate in Peru that existed from the late 1500s until the end of peonage had up to 1,700 peons employed and boasted its own jail. Peons were expected to work a minimum of three days a week for their landlord and more if necessary to complete assigned work. Workers were paid a symbolic 2 cents per year. Workers were unable to travel outside of their assigned lands without permission and were not allowed to organize any independent community activity.

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