From the Homestead Act to the Exodusters and the founding of Nicodemus, Kansas, the history of American expansion is also a history of unequal opportunity
By William Spivey
Medium
https://medium.com/
Americans have told themselves a story for generations about how this country grew: A man with a little courage, a strong back, and a willingness to work could head west, claim a piece of land, build a home, and make something of himself. His family could farm the land, raise children, start a business, and pass it down to the next generation. That opportunity, multiplied across millions of acres, helped transform the United States from a collection of eastern settlements into a continental power. It is a compelling story. It is also an incomplete one.
Free and inexpensive land was among the most important tools the federal government used to encourage American expansion. But the opportunity to acquire that land was never equally distributed. Native Americans were dispossessed as the country expanded westward. Women faced legal and practical obstacles to property ownership. And Black Americans, particularly those emerging from slavery, were denied the economic foundation that land ownership could have provided. Even after emancipation, the promise of land and independence remained elusive for millions of formerly enslaved people.
The story of the Exodusters, especially the founding of Nicodemus, Kansas, shows what happened when Black Americans tried to claim a share of the opportunity that had helped build the country.
Land: One of America’s greatest engines of growth
From the beginning of the republic, land was more than a place to live. It was a source of wealth, political power, economic independence, and opportunity. The federal government used the sale and distribution of public lands to encourage settlement, finance government operations, and populate territories that eventually became states.
The Homestead Act of 1862 was one of the most consequential examples. Signed by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, the law let eligible applicants claim up to 160 acres of…
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Written by William Spivey
I write about politics, history, education, and race. Follow me at williamfspivey.com and support me at https://ko-fi.com/williamfspivey0680
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