A common misconception is that the plan was to give the former slaves 40 acres and mule but in truth the plan across the entire south was to confiscate the plantations and give them to the freedmen. The 40 acres and mule was the plan in Georgia and that was because giving the slaves the deeds to the plantations wasn't a viable means of compensation since General Sherman burned them on his march to the Sea.
But the assassination of Abraham Lincoln up ended those plans.
Actually that's largely a myth.
It was some union general or another who may have said it, but had no legal authority to do anything. It was later decided wage labour instead of land ownership was "better" for some freed Blacks. Mainly as it kept the bulk of wealth in the hands of Whites.
In the end, Blacks lost out again, as most did not know they had a "claim". Plus, most ended up working for wage, doing the same work they were previously doing for free as a slave!
They didn't know any better, plus most were tasting freedom for the first time in their lives.
Providing acreage in relatively unpopulated areas like Kansas and Nebraska as well as some startup capital would have made more sense. A lot more than 40 acres could have been awarded in those areas. The plan to redistribute plantation land was deliberately intended to impoverish former slaveowners, something that would obviously not bode well for future race relations.
Wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. The fact America can't let go of things that happened hundreds of year's ago like they happened yesterday isn't the issue. It's the fact you don't tackle hate speech because doing so is unconstitutional that's keeping race relations in a bad place.
I thought after the civil war the freed slaves were given a plot of land on the plantations?
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Its difficult to to historical "what ifs". You can imagine a history where reparations worked and things became equal. You can also imagine a history where resentment of that increase violence and racism and things ended up worse
Race relations would be great if they had all been shipped off to Liberia with the other freed slaves.
We would be where we are now because they did get reparations. Ever heard of reconstruction?
I do not think anything would change.
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