Postcard of Cotton Ginning Time, Memphis, Tennessee

Abstract

This is an image of men waiting to have their wagons of cotton taken into the gin for processing. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 allowed for large-scale cleaning of cotton. The cotton gin allowed the thick bole around the seeds to be more easily and cheaply extracted in large quantities than could be done by hand, and made the practice an extremely profitable one. There is a penciled date on the back of "8-22-47."