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Title: Land Ownership and Racial Inequality in the Postbellum South

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2011

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Abstract: Could racial economic inequality have been reduced if freed slaves were allocated forty acres and a mule following the Civil War? This paper exploits a plausibly exogenousvariation in policies of the Cherokee Nation and southern United States to identify the impact of free land on the outcomes of former slaves. After joining the Confederacy, the Cherokee Nation was forced to allow its former slaves to claim free land. Using 1880 data, I find smaller racial wealth and income gaps in the Cherokee Nation than in theSouth. The Cherokee freedmen also had higher absolute levels of wealth and income.

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Authors: Miller, Melinda

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Other, Race and Ethnicity

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