Land is the basis of freedom, justice and equality.
They encountered crippling obstacles along the way. In 1910, nearly one million black farmers in the United States owned a total of 15 million acres. By 1969, they held only 6 million acres. In addition to providing medical, education and relocation services, the Bureau began distributing to freedmen small plots of land abandoned during the Civil War. Congress passed the Southern Homestead Act, opening public lands in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida to all settlers regardless of race.