The Southern Homestead Act and African American Opportunity
The Southern Homestead Act and African American Opportunity By Sylvester Felder During the decade or so after the civil war there were many policies and reforms enacted to literally rebuild the infrastructure of Southern states destroyed during the war. War in general has a tremendous impact on the populace, infrastructure, and economy of the affected areas. Rationing and food shortages, the destruction of telegraph lines and rail lines to disrupt communications and logistics, and the burning of several towns, in addition to the battles themselves left the South in tatters and its people both White and Black in a desperate situation. The Reconstruction period was designed to rebuild the South in physical terms but also economically. It was also a period which experimented with social reforms to increase and encourage participation of African Americans in the political sphere. Part of the reforms and policies enacted during this period was the 1866 Southern Homestead Act. The purpose of...