Black homesteaders

Black homesteaders were part of a larger land ownership movement in which settlers acquired and developed public lands for farming in 30 US states over a period of 100 years. The US federal government enacted these policies in areas that it wanted to populate with American citizens or prospective citizens (often to the detriment of the interests of the Native Americans who had previously occupied these lands). In total, some 30,000 black homesteaders obtained land claims in the course of this movement.