Number of Black-owned farms has decreased drastically since 1900 - Investigate Midwest

Number of Black-owned farms has decreased drastically since 1900 - Investigate Midwest

After the Civil War, the U.S. government promised 40 acres, either from abandoned plantations or unused land, to formerly enslaved Black people. But then President Andrew Johnson intervened. He pardoned Confederates, returning their land. It became a common theme. In the following decades, some Black farmers gained land through deals with white landowners: After being tenant operators, they could buy acreage, according to a U.S. Department of Ag…