Southern Homestead Act of 1866

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The Southern Homestead Act of 1866 was a U.S. law that aimed to help people in the South buy land after the Civil War. It offered land at low prices to both Black and white Southerners to help them escape debt and poverty. The act opened about 46 million acres of public land in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Initially, buyers could get 80-acre parcels, then 160-acre parcels after June 1868, and they had to live on and improve the land for five years to gain full ownership.

In the early years, only free Blacks and White Unionists could access the land (until 1867), so many early beneficiaries were freedmen. The law faced many problems, including officials not enforcing it, violence, poor land quality, and high prices. It was repealed in June 1876 after largely benefiting whites. About 6,500 Black claims were filed, with around 1,000 reaching property certificates, while roughly 28,000 White claims were filed.

The act grew from efforts led by the Freedmen’s Bureau, with supporters like General Oliver O. Howard, Thaddeus Stevens, and William Fessenden, and was signed into law by President Andrew Johnson on June 21, 1866.