Thousands of African-Americans made their way to Kansas and other Western states after Reconstruction. The Homestead Act and other liberal land laws offered blacks (in theory) the opportunity to escape the racism and oppression of the post-war South and become owners of their own tracts of private farmland.

Black Homesteading The 1866 Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed that African Americans were eligible as well. Black homesteaders used it to build new lives in which they owned the land they worked, provided for their families, and educated their children.

Requirements of the Homestead Act Land titles could also be purchased from the government for $1.25 per acre following six months of proven residency. Additional requirements included five years of continuous residence on the land, building a home on it, farming the land and making improvements.

Homesteaders included citizens, immigrants seeking naturalization, women, men, African Americans, and whites. American Indians, who were not recognized as U.S. citizens, were excluded.

So finally, in 1862, the Homestead Act was passed and signed into law. The new law established a three-fold homestead acquisition process: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title.

The Homestead Act, enacted during the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. Claimants were required to live on and “improve” their plot by cultivating the land.

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The Civil War removed the slavery issue because the Southern states had seceded from the Union. Ashley covers the challenges former slaves encountered in pursuing land ownership through these acts.Virginia Slave Laws Digital History ID 71. Date:1662. "One of the origins of Lincoln's hatred of slavery is the way his father treated him," Burlingame says, "which was like a slave. So how did all of this play out in the lives of real enslaved laborers and emancipating slavemasters? In "General Provisions as to Slaves," from The Code of Virginia (1860), the General Assembly updates various laws regarding slavery. Virginia Slave Laws Digital History ID 71. Date:1662. Farmers or other laborers from the east were able to try their hand at farming in the west.

Homestead Act Former Slaves In Virginia

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