Homestead Act Former Slaves In Texas
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Black Homesteading The 1866 Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed that African Americans were eligible as well. Black homesteaders used it to build new lives in which they owned the land they worked, provided for their families, and educated their children.
Thousands of African-Americans made their way to Kansas and other Western states after Reconstruction. The Homestead Act and other liberal land laws offered blacks (in theory) the opportunity to escape the racism and oppression of the post-war South and become owners of their own tracts of private farmland.
Requirements of the Homestead Act Land titles could also be purchased from the government for $1.25 per acre following six months of proven residency. Additional requirements included five years of continuous residence on the land, building a home on it, farming the land and making improvements.
Homesteaders included citizens, immigrants seeking naturalization, women, men, African Americans, and whites. American Indians, who were not recognized as U.S. citizens, were excluded.
While Black access to land never equaled that of whites, the Homestead Act of 1862 gave thousands of ex-slaves the opportunity to own their own land, something that was unattainable in the South. In all, some 270 million acres (109 million hectares) were distributed under the 1862 Homestead Act.
