The history of African American land acquisition and dispossession is a long and torturous story from the shores of Africa, through the Middle Passage, to enslavement in America in both urban and rural settings, and into the complexities of freedom under Reconstruction and Jim Crow. Prior to enslavement, Africans lived in agricultural settings. Despite the horrors of slavery, their cultural attachment to the land in their homelands would prove beneficial after emancipation. Developing an agrarian spirit and accumulating land at a rate beyond that of whites in the first few decades of freedom, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles, black land ownership peaked in the early 1900s. Thereafter, African Americans began to lose their land faster than whites. This article explores the larger context of the South, the creativity African Americans showed in resistance and in declaring themselves human, the movement toward land ownership, and the ways and means by which African Americans lost their land. Narrative and data reveal the complexities and the lived experience of African Americans.

中文翻译：

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土地收益，土地损失：重建以来的非裔美国人的奥德赛

非裔美国人土地征用和剥夺的历史是一个漫长而曲折的故事，从非洲沿岸到中间通道，再到在城市和农村地区奴役美国，再到重建和吉姆·克罗领导下的自由复杂性。在奴役之前，非洲人居住在农业环境中。尽管有奴隶制的恐怖，但解放后，他们对自己家乡土地的文化依恋将被证明是有益的。在自由的最初几十年中，发展了耕作精神并以超过白人的速度积累土地，尽管似乎存在无法克服的障碍，但黑土地所有权在1900年代初达到顶峰。此后，非洲裔美国人开始比白人更快地失去土地。本文探讨了南方的大环境，非裔美国人在抵抗和宣布自己的人性，向土地所有权的运动以及非裔美国人失去土地的方式方法方面表现出的创造力。叙事和数据揭示了非洲裔美国人的复杂性和生活经验。