WHEN COTTON WAS KING, I WAS THE CROWN PRINCE- Memphis is the cotton capital of the world and each spring,it has its Cotton Carnival. In Memphis, on Front Street, there are many, cotton classers and many cotton dealers. In the 1940's and early 1950's, the economy of the Mid south was based primarily on cotton, 40 acres and a mule. In the era before mechanized farming, it was believed that a hard-working family,40 acres and a good mule was all that one needed to be independent and sustainable. The livelihood of many, many people depended on the mule. In this print, Alice Moseley depicts the mule as pulling a wagon full of watermelons; giving a ride to several children, one of whom has slipped off the rear end; bringing ice to the cotton fields to refill water jugs; plowing the cotton; pulling a sorghum mill; pulling the fish wagon; and being in the midst of a sit down strike. Mules were very versatile creatures. Many people nowadays have never seen a mule. Mules were created by breeding a male donkey with a female horse. Mules could not reproduce. They were so cross bred because mules were much stronger than donkeys and less excitable and easier to handle than horses. My daddy, W. J. Moseley, worked at the Firestone plant in North Memphis and obtained our mules from the Memphis Humane Shelter,which was on his way home. Back then, mules would stray and be picked up just like stray dogs or cats are now. My dad always had a very large garden courtesy of his series of mules. Being from the humane shelter, many of the newly acquired mules were on the elderly side, and I remember several of them ending up feet sticking straight up in the air as they landed in the creek bed that ran through our property.
