More on Afro-Americans and Landownership

My great-great grandfather and great-grandfather bought land(and inherited some, but those are other stories) in the late 19th century and the early part of the 20th Century. To be exact, my great-grandfather bought his property in 1913. Afro-Americans for a long time held a considerable amount of property in the Southern states. After the Civil War,Congress passed an act which effectively broke up many of the old plantations in the south and divided them into plots of land which they sold to the newly freed slaves and others who could buy. If I remember correctly,I believe one could purchase 100 acres of land for $40. As a result of this, many many Blacks bought land which they primarily farmed, and which became the foundation for the growth of the Black Middle class after the Civil War. Since 1910,this economic stronghold for Blacks has been slowly eroded as Blacks have lost their land for various reasons. In cases I know, my aunts and uncles (actually my grandmother's first cousins, but we call them aunts and uncles as they are so close to all of us), the Fraziers lost their land about five years ago now. Their father, Harrison Frazier, left them 500 acres of prime property surrounding the current high school. After my Uncle Amos died, my uncle Sylvester and others began to quarrel and the land ended up in court, and thus was sold( as that is what white judges do to Black property ownership in the south). What a loss that was, they didn't even get what the land was worth from the sale. Anyway, if you are Black and you have land KEEP YOUR HANDS ON IT and hold it for dear life. Land is the basis of economic stability.