South Carolina Land Commission

cotton gin at Port Royal
The South Carolina legislature created the Commission in 1868 to finance the redistribution of land to freedmen. State bonds were authorized, at 7% for 10 years, to purchase land titles from whites and sell these titles to blacks. From 1868 to 1879, titles were transferred to 14,000 black families, mostly in the coastal rice-growing Tidelands. In Abbeville County, 150 miles northwest of Charleston, The white Marshall family sold a large tract to the Land Commission for $10 per acre (worth only $2). This tract was subdivided into 50 farms of 50 acres each and sold to freedmen for a $10 down payment conditional on the payment of annual taxes to the country and on the agreement to keep at least half the farmland under cultivation. The all-black community of Promise Land grew from these first farms, 11 sold by 1870, 25 by 1871, 44 by 1873. A public school was established in 1870, jury duty in 1872, local officials elected such as sheriff and school trustees. The freedmen remained active in the Republican party, participating in party activities such as county conventions and precinct managers. Kinship bonds were strengthened as families intermarried, became part of large extended families suchas the Moragne family, and remained residents of the community. The Mt. Zion A.M.E. church was established in 1875. About 20 families lost farms due to debt or failure to pay taxes, but the land was purchased by other black families and the community continued to grow. Some cotton was grown as a cash crop, but most of the land was used for subsistence crops such as corn and peas and sorghum cane. The community built a molasses mill, corn mills, a general store, and was able to survive hard times and falling cotton prices because of its diversity and strong subsistence food production.

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revised 3/28/05 by Schoenherr | Outline | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4