When we think of Black land ownership at the end of the Civil War, everything gets murky. It's widely accepted that the U.S. government promised former African slaves “40 acres and a mule” that never really materialized.
But The Center for Public Integrity and the investigative public radio program Reveal report in a special series, some formerly enslaved people were given 40 acres, and some were even given a mule.
Even after newly freed people were given this land, and deeds to the land, it was taken back. That was the case for Ruth Wilson's great-great-grandfather, Fergus Wilson.
Reporter Alexia Fernández Campbell found documents showing Fergus Wilson and two of his sons were given property on Sapelo Island, outside of Savannah, Georgia, where they had been enslaved by Charles Spalding.
Guests
Alexia Fernández Campbell, senior investigative reporter at the Center for Public Integrity
Ruth Wilson, great-great-granddaughter of Fergus Wilson, a man who fought for the Union Army and received land after emancipation
Read a profile of Ruth Wilson, and her great-great-grandfather Fergus Wilson published by Mother Jones, here.
