Delanceyplace.com 09/18/06-Reparations in 1865

In today's excerpt, reparations to slaves in
1865:



"For the ex-slaves, the promise of land was real, not just something they imagined or hoped for. General William Tecumseh Sherman made the promise when thousands of freed people followed the troops when he marched his army from Atlanta to the sea in 1864-1865, laying waste the Confederacy. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton heard reports that he had been heartless and shown indifference to the poverty-stricken condition of the newly freed people. Stanton
came to Savannah in January to meet with Sherman and talk to African-American leaders about their needs. Twenty blacks selected by Union authorities, deacons, and ministers, three quarters of whom had been slaves, came to the meeting and let national leaders know that land was their major priority. When asked how they could best support their families, their self-selected leader, Garrison Frazier from Granville, North Carolina, replied, 'To have land and turn in and till it by our labor.'



"With Stanton's support, Sherman approved the
request. He issued Order Number 15 of January 16,
1865, designating the rich sea islands and plantation
areas from Charleston to Jacksonville, thirty miles
inland, for settlement by the freedmen. Each adult
male could claim a forty-acre tract. The March
3, 1865, Freedmen's Bureau Act repeated the
promise that each freedman would be assigned 'not
more than forty acres' of abandoned or confiscated land at rental for three years and an option to purchase at the end of that time with 'such title thereto as the United States can convey.' Word of the promise spread quickly among the ex-slaves.



"By June 1865, 40,000 freedmen had been settled on the coastal lands and were growing crops. The
promise of forty acres and a mule seemed a reality. However, any hope that this policy would expand to the rest of the South proved to be an illusion. After President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, President Andrew Johnson gutted the policy. He issued an amnesty proclamation on May 29, 1865, pardoning many rebels and restoring their lands to them. Abolitionists tried to stop the policy change, but to no avail. ... Incredulous, the freedmen cried out at the betrayal."



Mary Frances Berry, My Face is Black is True,
Knopf, 2005, pp. 11-12.

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Barclays
www.barclaycardus.com
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