Editing Boll weevil (section)

==Impact==
The [[Library of Congress]] [[American Memory]] Project contains a number of [[oral history]] materials on the boll weevil's impact.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec11.html|title=Today in History - December 11|website=loc.gov}}</ref>
[[File:Map showing spread of the Mexican cotton boll weevil in the Unlted States from 1892 to 1922, inclusive.jpg|thumb|Spread of the boll weevil, 1892–1922]]
It devastated [[African America]]ns disproportionately because most were directly financially dependent on cotton as a [[cash crop]]. Because they were more likely to labor as tenant farmers or [[sharecroppers]] on cotton plantations in the Southern United States - the epicenter of the Boll Weevil infestation, black farmers, suffered disproportionately. Additionally, Government intervention such as the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act|Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933]], resulted in the abandonment and loss of cropland for black farmers.  

By 1922 it was taking 8% of the cotton in the country annually. This failure of the south's primary crop became a major impetus for the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] of the time, although not the only one. Thereby it was one of the factors in the birth of the [[Harlem Renaissance]] - including the culture of the [[Cotton Club]].<ref name="Jabbar-Obstfeld-2007">{{cite book | last1=Abdul-Jabbar | first1=Kareem | author1-link=Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | last2=Obstfeld | first2=Raymond | author2-link=Raymond Obstfeld | title=On The Shoulders Of Giants : My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | publication-place=New York | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-4165-3488-4 | oclc=76168045 | pages=1–288 }}</ref> A 2009 study found "that as the weevil traversed the American South [in the period 1892-1932], it seriously disrupted local economies, significantly reduced the value of land (at this time still the most important asset in the American South), and triggered substantial intraregional population movements."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lange|first1=Fabian|last2=Olmstead|first2=Alan L.|last3=Rhode|first3=Paul W.|date=2009-09-01|title=The Impact of the Boll Weevil, 1892–1932|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/div-classtitlethe-impact-of-the-boll-weevil-18921932div/B726479ED1550ECE8F28A7D8115F5A52|journal=The Journal of Economic History|volume=69|issue=3|pages=685–718|doi=10.1017/S0022050709001090|s2cid=154646873|issn=1471-6372}}</ref> A 2020 ''Journal of Economic History'' study found that the boll weevil spread between 1892 and 1922 had a beneficial impact on educational outcomes, as children were less likely to work on cultivating cotton.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Baker|first1=Richard B.|last2=Blanchette|first2=John|last3=Eriksson|first3=Katherine|date=2020|title=Long-Run Impacts of Agricultural Shocks on Educational Attainment: Evidence from the Boll Weevil|journal=The Journal of Economic History|language=en|volume=80|issue=1|pages=136–174|doi=10.1017/S0022050719000779|issn=0022-0507|doi-access=free}}</ref> A 2020 NBER paper found that the boll weevil spread contributed to fewer lynchings, less Confederate monument construction, less KKK activity, and higher non-white voter registration.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Feigenbaum|first1=James J|last2=Mazumder|first2=Soumyajit|last3=Smith|first3=Cory B|date=2020|title=When Coercive Economies Fail: The Political Economy of the US South After the Boll Weevil|series=Working Paper Series |journal= Social Science Research |doi=10.3386/w27161|s2cid=219441177|url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w27161|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The boll weevil infestation has been credited with bringing about economic diversification in the Southern US, including the expansion of [[peanut]] cropping. The citizens of [[Enterprise, Alabama]], erected the [[Boll Weevil Monument]] in 1919, perceiving that their economy had been overly dependent on cotton, and that mixed farming<ref>"History of Enterprise". City of Enterprise, Alabama. Archived from the original on 2013-07-03. Retrieved December 21, 2020.</ref> and manufacturing were better alternatives.{{clear left}}