When my family picked cotton, I was 9 the last time we were in the fields, the pay was $3.00 per hundred pounds. If you were a good picker you could get 200 pounds per day. That’s six bucks for leaving the house around 6 A.M. and getting home at 6 P.M.
Earlier in the spring we chopped the weeds out of cotton fields for $6.00 a day. Sun up to sun down. I think I was 12 or 13 before I ever saw a black man. And that wasn’t in a cotton field.
I worked for my Uncle picking cotton at the exact same rate as you. It was 3 cent a pound. I was 9 or 10 and didn’t have to work but wanted some spending money.
I typically would pick around 90 pounds a day. I was not trying to set any records tho. The one thing which bothered me is the open bolls were a little like thorns and if you missed the cotton it would eventually irritate your fingers.
I spoke to a friend who grew up in Texas and he said they just picked the entire boll. That would have been tremendously easier.
I remember the first trip to the cotton gin. Uncle Buck paid us in cash and I went to the dime store and bought a monopoly set. When I got home, I ordered a telescope from a tiny add in Sports Afield. I got it in a couple of weeks and it was a pretty decent telescope.