MarathonMike
Diamond Member
While '40 acres and a mule' never happened, Freed Black slaves were able to acquire millions of acres of farmland, largely through claims filed under the Homestead Act. In fact, Black land ownership peaked in 1910 at nearly 19 MILLION ACRES. Don't let anyone tell you that remote descendants of slaves are owed reparations because any freed slave who wanted land got it either through the Homestead Act, sharecropping, or some other means. It is true that Black land ownership dropped by 90% over the next few decades for a variety of reasons, but that is irrelevant to the fact that those DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY SLAVERY got reparations that exceeded 40 acres and a mule. This is one of the few fair minded research articles on the subject that I was able to find.