Cotton

The history of cotton in the Pee Dee is complicated — both beautiful and painful. It’s a story of hard work, loss, resilience, and transformation. By remembering this history, we honor the people who labored, those who created cultural treasures out of hardship, and the legacy that continues to shape who we are today in this region.

From the time cotton was “king” in the South through present day, African Americans have played a major role in the agricultural developments in South Carolina. Rural communities in the Pee Dee offer cotton-related sites such as the S.C. Cotton Museum in Bishopville and a cotton exhibit at the Hartsville Museum.

Cotton. It took a great deal of work to grow, pick, gin (remove the seeds) and bale cotton. Therefore, large numbers of enslaved laborers were purchased to do this work.

The industry was given a boost with the invention of Eli Whitney’s gin in 1793. With the aid of a horse to turn the gin, a man could clean fifty times more cotton than before. This increased the demand for enslaved workers. For example, in 1803 alone, over 20,000 enslaved individuals were brought into Georgia and South Carolina to work in the fields.

In the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, cotton was more than just a crop — it shaped the land, the economy, and the lives of people for generations. From its cultivation to its ginning, baling, and shipping, cotton was deeply woven into the everyday rhythms of rural life — especially for African American families who labored in fields, tended plants, and carried forward traditions even under heavy burdens.