How the U.S. Stole Land From Millions of Black Farmers
Hiyya! Happy Friday! Hope this email finds you well. As always, please enjoy the new OCC video, three quotes, and three links. Enjoy!
Three Quotes:
“In 1920, the number of Black farmers peaked at nearly 1 million, constituting 14 percent of all farmers. But between 1910 and 1997, they lost 90 percent of their property.”
— The Nation
“If African American people were paid $20 per week for our agricultural labor rather than enslaved, we would have $6.4 trillion in today’s dollars in the bank today. This figure does not include reparations for denied credit and homeownership opportunities, exclusion from the social safety net and education, or property theft and destruction. There is a reason why the typical white household has 16 times the wealth of a typical black household - 80% of wealth is inherited, often traceable back to slavery times. Existing policies reinforce and augment the wealth gap.”
— Soul Fire Farm
“One reason [George] Floyd’s family lacked resources: His great-great-grandfather, Hillery Thomas Stewart Sr., had 500 acres of North Carolina farmland stolen from him in the late 19th century, the Post reports. Instead of inheriting property that would have ballooned in value over the 20th century, his children worked as sharecroppers”
— Mother Jones
Three Links:
After a Century of Dispossession, Black Farmers Are Fighting to Get Back to the Land (Mother Jones)
The Black Belt Communists (Jacobin)
Point of Origin: Farming While Black (Point of Origin)
Hope you have a wonderful weekend,
Charlie