40 Acres and a Mule was a promise from the Freedman’s Bureau after the Civil War to provide the formerly enslaved with land and resources to thrive independently. This promise was largely unkept. Skidaway Island is one community where freed Black people lived before the promise was broken.
Rev. Ulysses L. Houston joined a group of 20 Black ministers in convincing Union General William T. Sherman to provide Confederate land to the formerly enslaved. After Sherman agreed, Houston led 1,000 freed people to Skidaway Island.
Skidaway was on its way to becoming a thriving community. The community built cabins and put government systems in place. White reporters visiting the town couldn’t believe how easily Black people transitioned from slavery. However, this astonishment quickly turned into envy.
After the assassination of President Lincoln, Southern whites began hiring lawyers to steal back land given to the formerly enslaved. The promise of land and resources for our people was broken, but our ability to create thriving communities lives on.
When given the opportunity, formerly enslaved people built a community on Skidaway and thrived long before greedy whites stole the land. How can we be self-determined and build communities today like the people of Skidaway?