Why was it difficult for freed people to get out of

poverty?

B. As sharecroppers, it was difficult for them to earn money.

What time period? In the 1800s, after the dred scott decision was passed, many free blacks started taking up sharecropping jobs, which was simply put, slavery. They "borrowed" money and land in return for their crops, but the people they owed money to were corrupt and did not let them get out of the constant cycle of borrowing and giving.