[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 18 (Wednesday, February 27, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H612-H613]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                LAND LOSS SUFFERED BY AFRICAN AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. I am pleased to come to the House floor to speak in 
honor of Black history month. In 1926, Carter G. Woodson started Black 
history week to bring national attention to the contributions of Black 
people to this nation. Since 1976, Americans annually recognize 
February as Black history month. This year's theme, ``[t]he Color Line 
Revisited, Is Racism Dead?'', reminds us as a nation to examine our 
haunted past, while affording us an opportunity to appreciate how 
African-Americans have been instrumental in shaping the spirit of our 
nation, despite the barriers imposed by racism. As I take this 
opportunity to recognize the triumphs of African-Americans, I would be 
remiss if I did not recognize the losses we have suffered. I would like 
to recount one particularly painful loss endured by African-Americans, 
that of land loss. Madam Speaker, on January 12, 1865, General William 
T. Sherman met with 20 black community leaders of Savannah, Georgia. 
The following day, General Sherman issued Special Field Order Number 15 
which set aside the Sea Islands off the Georgia coast and a 30-mile 
tract of land along the southern coast of South Carolina for the 
exclusive settlement of black families. This land, along with other 
confiscated and abandoned land, fell under the jurisdiction of the 
Freedmen's Bureau, a government entity created to assist former slaves. 
Each family was to receive 40 acres of land and an Army mule to work 
the land, thus the origin of ``40 acres and a mule.''
  The Freedmen's Bureau lent a helping hand to former slaves in their 
new-found freedom by assisting them in taking advantage of the 
government's promise of land and a chance at prosperity. Unfortunately, 
the government never lived up to its promise of 40 acres and a mule. 
During the fall of 1865, President Andrew Johnson issued special 
pardons which returned the confiscated property of many ex-
Confederates. The Freedmen's Bureau was stripped of most of its power, 
and much of the land that had been leased to black farmers was taken 
and returned to the Confederates.
  Nevertheless, despite the absence of government assistance, many 
African-Americans on their own managed to purchase land. Despite the 
failure of our Federal Government to make good on a promise of 
assistance and despite open hostility and racial discrimination, 
between the end of the Civil War and 1910, African American families in 
the South amassed a land base of over 15 million acres.

                              {time}  1730

  This was by no means an easily accomplished feat. Many sacrifices 
were made, and much hard work went into the efforts of African 
Americans to fulfill the American dream and own their own land. By 
1920, there were 925,000 African American farmers. In 1999, the figures 
had dropped to less than 17,000 African American farmers with less than 
3 million acres of land.
  Fast forward to the year 2002, and many of us in the African American 
community look back on a promise made to us in 1865 that was never 
realized. We have to acknowledge the fact that not only did the 
government fail black farmers and landowners in 1865, it seems that the 
government has played and active role in depriving African Americans of 
property acquired through their own hard work and sacrifices. In some 
cases, the government approved taking lands from African Americans; in 
others, it actually participated.

[[Page H613]]

  How many cases have we heard where African Americans, through 
intimidation, trickery, fraud, and outright violence, have been driven 
from their land or lost family homesteads? In spite of bitter struggles 
to hold onto their land, many African Americans have lost land 
involuntarily and have received no remedy to correct these injustices.
  We as a people recognize land ownership is an integral source of 
power. Cases of government-condoned land-taking are viewed by the black 
community as a campaign to deprive African Americans of our ownership 
rights as American citizens. For African Americans who have struggled 
to overcome the legacy of slavery, the loss of lands is particularly 
devastating. Land ownership is viewed as a source of economic security 
and prosperity. Since the mid-1800s when black Americans were first 
promised the opportunity to own land, we have sought to gain economic 
freedom, prosperity, and respect through our land and pass that legacy 
on to future generations.
  In spite of the fact that our government has failed us and reneged on 
a promise of yesterday, we have shown that we have the drive and the 
determination to overcome adversity in our quest to share the 
prosperity to which we are entitled.
  This does not mean, however, that we will accept the discrimination 
practices and government-sanctioned schemes that served to rob African 
American landowners of property that they have literally in some cases 
shed blood, sweat, and tears to attain and maintain.
  As policymakers, we have an obligation to respond to the critical 
issue of land loss in the African American community. The link that has 
been established between land ownership, community, and democratic 
participation makes it critical that we are committed in our efforts to 
help black landowners hold onto their land. We must preserve a legacy 
that is worthy of passing on to future generations.

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