Forty Acres and a Mule

First published in 1978, this work has since become a definitive study in the history of American Reconstruction. The author examines of why the majority of freed slaves were denied the opportunity to own land during the Reconstruction era, leaving them vulnerable to a persecution that strongly resembled slavery. He recounts the struggle of black families to acquire land and how the U.S. government agency Freedmen's Bureau both served and obstructed them.