Any discussion of Black Land Sovereignty must recognize that European colonizers inflicted genocide on Indigenous peoples in North America before, during, and after trafficking enslaved Africans over to work the land. Gaining ownership over the land they were driven from or forced to farm has always been a large piece of the fight for freedom for Indigenous and Black communities. For centuries, governments at every level in Canada and the U.S. have sought to prevent Black families from owning land – both farm and residential – and are being highlighted once again in this current moment. 

In popular media, Ava Duvernay’s show, “Queen Sugar” tells the story of a Black family in Louisiana whose enslaved ancestors farmed sugarcane on land they now own (some of), but the descendants of a white family that owned their ancestors are trying to take the land back through legal and extralegal means. The New York Times and Nikole Hannah-Jones’s 1619 project includes a podcast and essay about the agriculture policies that have stolen 90% of Black land away from families since the post-Civil War Reconstruction (down from owning 14 million acres). 

In recent years, some governments have taken steps to proactively return land or increase access to land ownership for Black families. In 2017 the province of Nova Scotia decided to spend $2.7 million to help residents access land titles in predominantly Black communities who had been systematically denied access to that ownership. In March of 2021, the U.S. Congress included a provision in the American Rescue Plan for $1 billion in debt relief specifically targeted to Black farmers who have been petitioning for that relief for decades. After centuries of discriminatory policies implemented by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, this relief is the first step in reparations of some kind. 

In Canada and the U.S., land ownership often provides the most impactful access to economic mobility and wealth. Suppose we care about creating an economy that works better for poor and working-class families and care about reparations for centuries of genocide, enslavement, and racism. In that case, land reparations are a critical pathway to justice. 

Recap:

• Policies at all levels of government in CA and the US have stolen land from Black families – farmers in particular- and prevented access to regaining ownership
• Grassroots organizing, journalism, and popular media have helped to elevate this issue again in the Black Lives Matter era leading to change, including debt relief mainly targeted to Black farmers in the 2021 America Rescue Plan

Citations:

Barth, Brian. “How Did African-American Farmers Lose 90 Percent of Their Land?” Modern Farmer, Modern Farmer Media, 19 Aug. 2019, www.modernfarmer.com/2019/08/how-did-african-american-farmers-lose-90-percent-of-their-land/ .

“Black Farmers Will Receive Stimulus Aid After Decades Of USDA Discrimination.” All Things Considered, performance by Seth Bodine, NPR, 17 Mar. 2021, www.npr.org/2021/03/17/978288305/black-farmers-will-receive-stimulus-aid-after-decades-of-usda-discr….

Borden Colley, Sherri. “After 200 Years without Land Title, Nova Scotia Black Communities Offered Hope.” CBC News, 28 Sept. 2017, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/legal-title-black-loyalists-north-preston-1.4309505.

Hannah-Jones, Nikole. “1619 / Episode 5: The Land Of Our Fathers, Part I.” 1619 Project Podcast, episode 5, 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/podcasts/1619-slavery-sugar-farm-land.html?action=click&module=audio-seri… .

“Queen Sugar – Season 5: OWN.” Oprah.com, HARPO PRODUCTIONS, INC., 2021, www.oprah.com/app/queen-sugar.html.