Learn about the racial wealth gap, era-by-era:
Summary - Wikipedia
The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than 160 million acres (650 thousand km2; 250 thousand sq mi) of public land, or nearly 10 percent of the total area of the United States, was given away free to 1.6 million homesteaders; most of the homesteads were west of the Mississippi River.
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"It was never the case that a white asset-based middle class simply emerged. Rather, it was government policy, and to some extent literal government giveaways, that provided whites the finance, education, land and infrastructure to accumulate and pass down wealth."
Darrick Hamilton and Trevon Logan
The Homestead Act of 1862 (L.A. Potter, W. Schamel)
Homestead Act - Definition, Dates & Significance
Land and the roots of African-American Poverty (K.L. Merritt)
Race, Reconstruction, and Reparations (K. L. Merritt)
African American Homesteaders in the Great Plains
The Homestead Act: A Major Asset-Building Policy in American History (T. Williams)
The Land Grant System in Early Virginia
How Colonists Acquired Title to Land in Virginia
Books
Tracing Their Steps: A Memoir: (Bennett, Bernice Alexander, Bennett)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West, (Dee Brown)
Videos
1862: The Homestead Act, (Tim Wise)
The Homestead Act of 1862 contributed to the wealth gap in the U.S.
Search for Original Land Patents and Grants
Arphax - Family Maps and Texas Land Survey Maps - Genealogy History
Questions for Research and Reflection:
- Did your family acquire land patents or land grants from the 1600s - 1915? If so, how did these grants affect your family's financial status?
- Has land or real property been passed down in your family? Has the property appreciated over time?
- Enslaved people could not own property; after 1866, freedmen could apply for land grants, but less than 5% of land grants were awarded to African Americans. How does lack of land ownership affect African American net worth as we enter the 20th century?
- Does your family own land now? How and when was it acquired?
"It was never the case that a white asset-based middle class simply emerged. Rather, it was government policy, and to some extent literal government giveaways, that provided whites the finance, education, land and infrastructure to accumulate and pass down wealth."