Abstract:
In 1910, the U.S. Department of Agriculture listed nearly one million black farmers, who owned 15 million acres, about 14 percent of the nation's farmland. Today black farmers number 18,000 nationwide and collectively own less than 1 percent of all farms. North Carolina has been especially hard hit, losing between 1982 and 1992, more black farms than any other state in the union. Jackson discusses reasons for this decline.