[Robert DeLong]

He told Bossie had had "some relatives who picked cotton

And he never met a one of them, as these relatives are long dead & gone. Just to set the record straight, there have been white people who picked cotton as well. They were often referred to as white trash, or poor white, and were despised as much, if not more, as the negro back in the times of slavery in the South.

[UnwashedPeasant]

"...Just to set the record straight, there have been white people who picked cotton as well. They were often referred to as white trash..."

I have never before heard farmers referred to collectively as white trash. I don't think that phrase means what you think it means.

[ladyjane]

there have been white people who picked cotton as well. They were often referred to as white trash, or poor white,

Why do you say that? There were thousands of whites who picked cotton. Maybe more than blacks. That's what people did in the south.

There were thousands of blacks who owned slaves. There were thousands of whites who picked cotton.