Full Citation
Title: The Aftermath of Policy Failures: The Southern Homestead Act and the Freedmen’s Saving Bank in Florida
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2019
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI: doi: 10.1017/S0022050719000111
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Abstract: Reconstruction provides fertile ground for examining the impact of failed policies on their intended recipients. The Sothern Homestead Act provided a route to land ownership for former slaves and is largely regarded as a failure. The Freedmen’s Bank provided banking services to former slaves before its collapse in 1874. The state of Florida provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the impact of these failed policies. I have collected records for all successful SHA homesteaders, a relatively complete sample of failed homesteaders, the depositor records for the Freedmen’s Bank in Tallahassee, the index to depositors in Jacksonville, and the entirety of 1880 agricultural census for the state. I have linked these to the pre-existing 100 percent IPUMS sample of Florida in 1880. With these records, the African-American population can be divided into five categories: successful homesteaders, failed homesteaders, those who never homesteaded, Freedmen’s bank account holders, and non-bank account holders
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Miller, Melinda
Periodical (Full): The Journal of Economic History
Issue: 2
Volume: 79
Pages: 543-563
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Housing and Segregation, Other, Race and Ethnicity
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