Black land ownership grew after emancipation despite the broken promise of Forty Acres and a Mule. By 1920, the USDA counted about 925,000 Black farm operators, nearly all in the South. Then the numbers collapsed. In the 2022 Census of Agriculture, Black producers ran roughly 32,700 farms, and the number fell by about 15 percent from 2017 to 2022.
The causes were systemic. White violence and lynching drove families off land during the Great Migration. Local offices of the US Department of Agriculture routinely denied or delayed loans and aid to Black farmers. Heirs' property let speculators force sales of family land. Tax sales and eminent domain took more.
The USDA's record led to Pigford v. Glickman, a class action settled in 1999, and a second settlement in 2010 worth $1.25 billion. In 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act set aside $2.2 billion for farmers who faced USDA lending discrimination. Black land loss matters because land is wealth, food security and political independence.