If you listen to one thing about the Juneteenth holiday, I highly recommend “40 Acres and a Lie.” The three-part audio series is a collaboration between Mother Jones, the Center for Public Integrity, and Reveal. I heard the first part on my local NPR station over the weekend and was floored.
The title refers to Special Field Orders No. 15 issued on January 16, 1865, by General William Tecumseh Sherman that provided for the confiscation of 400,00 acres of plantation land along the Atlantic coast between South Carolina and Florida, dividing the land into parcels of not more than 40 acres to be settled by approximately 18,000 families of “Negros now made free by the acts of war and the proclamation of the President of the United States.”
The federal Freedmen’s Bureau also sought to provide land to freed slaves in other parts of the South and “40 acres and a mule” (along with other supplies necessary for farming) represented a common promise of Freedmen’s Bureau agents.
Forty-four days after President Lincoln’s death, Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation granting amnesty and return of confiscated property to Southern citizens who swore loyalty oaths. Freeman who had begun farming the properties were now removed and told to work for their former slaveowner.
The three-part series is the result of years of investigation with the Freedman’s Bureau to identify freed slaves who had been granted land under the program, finding not only their ancestors but the ancestors of those whose property was restored and discussing this history and what should be done about it. The first episode focuses on Jim Hutchinson, who had gotten 40 acres on Edisto Island, South Carolina, speaking with his ancestors and those of Isaac Jenkins Mikell, the plantation owner (who had raped and father a child with one of the Hutchinson family) whose land was given to Hutchinson and others and then returned to him.
Both the Hutchinson and Mikell families had difficulty talking about this history and what remedy if any should there be for people like the Hutchinson family. This is compelling and important history and the very type of history that Confederate apologists like Ron DeSantis want to whitewash and remove from our schools.
The first episode is below with Parts 2 and 3 coming over the next two weeks. Be sure to check out their website for more detailed information about this history.
In Part 2 (coming June 22): In 1865, Skidaway Island, Georgia, was becoming a Black utopia. Former cotton plantations gave way to a self-governing Black community. That is, until the federal government revoked 40 acres for tens of thousands of formerly enslaved people and returned the land to former slaveholders. Today, much of Skidaway Island belongs to The Landings, a wealthy, mostly white gated community.
In Part 3 (coming June 29): 40 Acres and a Mule has come to represent an unpaid debt, and it’s served as a rallying cry for generations of Black citizens demanding reparations. The final episode in this series explores how the debate around reparations has moved from the fringes to the mainstream, as a rising number of states, cities, and even one county in the South are actively exploring making amends.
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