Black Land Ownership Peaks at 15 Million Acres in 1910, Then Declines Under Sustained Theft

Black land ownership in the South peaked at approximately 15 million acres in 1910. Beginning in the 1910s, Black land was stripped through tax sales without notice, heirs' property laws, racially exclusionary USDA loan programs, intimidation and violence, deed fraud, and false claims. By 1997, Black landowners held less than 2 million acres.