The following article can be found at the web page for the Journal of African American Studies. Or, hopefully your local library can retrieve it for you at little to no cost. The piece lays out the historical context within which the current struggle for survival of the Black farmer is found. I'm indebted to Dr. Edward Robinson, professor at Abilene Christian University, for his support of this righteous cause. We'll write more about his works later this summer.
"Abstract The central thesis to this article is that blacks were intended to work the land, but never to own the land. The progression from working the land via slavery, to peonage, and to land ownership is explored. Africans arrived on American soil carrying with them a rich legacy in caring for the land, and while they did so in America, it was under the most onerous of conditions. Once freed, blacks became prodigious land owners, but with the onset of the twentieth century various systemic factors impacted landownership for blacks. These same factors along with mechanization, herbicides, government policy, and the courts all served to undermine farm ownership for black Americans. The Pigford Class Action Suit is central to understanding the complexities of the plight of the black farmer and the attempts of various advocacy groups to maintain black land ownership."
