"But I sure as hell wouldn't recommend being either a slave or a sharecropper."
Or a sweatshop laborer? Suffice it to say that, in our past and in the past of every people and every nation, there have been episodes that do not bear up well in light of modern standards. The south was not unique by any standard in this regard.
Yes, there were some horrible conditions, but unlike chattle slavery, there were ways to change the conditions (organized labor) or to escape from them for better opportunities. Life was a hard struggle, but not "hopeless" as it was with slavery.