What were two financially lucrative crops grown on slave plantations in the Caribbean and North America, prior to cotton?

Answer 1

I believe that sugar/sorghum and tobacco crops were also lucrative endeavors on slave plantations. The sugar was marketed as a food sweetener as well as liquor-producing medium; and tobacco was highly popular with the male populations, in particular (although some females also smoked in the privacy of their homes and plantations or, in the case of field workers, on-the-job when the overseers weren't looking). Females were most-probably ostracized or punished when caught drinking or smoking (unless their slave owners or authorities were afraid of them). Females caught in these unfortunate circumstances might have used practices such as Santeria or medicine-man potions to scare off the authorities. Being enslaved as a servant in the home or in the field created a limited opportunity for slaves or poor white women/men to escape the onerous living and working conditions in which they found themselves stuck.

Answer 2

Tobacco and indigo