"The legal foundation that buttressed Negro landownership, strangely enough, was inspired not so much by radical pressures as by the simple requirements of war." (Willie Lee Rose, Rehearsal for Reconstruction).
Though it is complicated and requires close historical analysis, the Civil War did in fact provide an opening for black landowership. At several refugee or contraband camps, officials did attempt to create such opportunity for a certain class of blacks. As Rose writes (a comment implied by DuBois), superintendents needed not only the labor of masses of blacks but the expertise of the negro driver, who had a thorough knowledge of farm operations. These blacks, who might also know how to navigate the local geography since they had probably done so on business for their masters, naturally became teamsters during the war delivering clothing and other supplies to their black brethren. These men stood ready then to take advantage of any small opening within the war machine.
Openings were created from inconsistency in jurisdiction. At one point, the Department of Freedmen (Army) had control of the camps. At another point, the Treasury Department took control. I have surmised that superintendents had more control over the camps and more opportunity to create avenues to black landownership when the Department of Freedmen was in control. We see this with the example of the President Island Experiment, where John Eaton (via the Federal Government) purchased a local tract of land and divided it among the freedmen.
We see this also at Port Royal where Treasury agents were in constant conflict, and officials themselves thwarted efforts to create black landowners because of their own greed. Nevertheless, a few blacks actually came for a time to occupy in South Carolina the plantations of their masters. By default of taxes, plantations were lost by whites and bought by whites and blacks (who pooled their small earnings) for 1.00 an acre. Though there is a positive side to this story, there is also a negative side since blacks, advised to squat on desired land, were later removed from the land, which was sold out from under them. Still, a number of blacks were able to acquire and maintain the land they had sought.
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A word about Rose's quotation: Of course, there were Congressmen fighting for black landownership. (I'm thinking of Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens in particular.) I think that this is what Rose is referring to with the phrase "radical pressure." It was in the plans of some leaders that the slave's transition to freedom be accompanied by the ability to own land. Freedom the leaders thought wouldn't be fully felt by the emancipated without it. Freedom without land meant serfdom. So, again, there were leaders fighting for land for the freedmen. Yet, Rose is suggesting that what wouldn't be won through the legislature did come through openings created by the war. The question for those interested is exactly what those openings looked like and how contraband positioned themselves to take advantage of these openings. The answers to these questions is what makes this story so awesome.
What I am receiving from the reading and response of ripwink is opportunity, stability and maybe foundation. One thing I believe is that history has always expressed is that opportunity will always present itself, and there will be those who will be in the position to capitalize on that opportunity. Or, should I say vessels available to further the agenda of the master planner.
Another concept I grasped was that land was that land represented stability or an initial means of foundation (pride, relief, peace...). But even with with the opportunity and land, I feel there is still a necessary component missing, that being education. One thing history has taught us is that it has always been the educated ones that has been the proponents of change and has made an substantial impact in the agenda of the master planner. Not to take any of the others mentioned lightly, but I am just a strong proponent of education and its impact.
Great comment Chaz.
Actually, though my own research focus has not yet been on education, there was a huge educational program underway at the contraband camps. The camps were staffed with missionaries who wanted to push Christian, as well as secular, education. In one of the readers developed for the freedman's education it asks: (paraphrase) So, what will you do when you begin to earn money? Will you waste it on bad activities such as drinking or smoking, or will you invest it in land? The readers had two purposes: indoctrination and literacy.
As for the system of the master planner, that's complex. I won't address that right now, but I think maybe we see this issue being taken up by adherents of DuBois and Washington. My own family was more pragmatic and less political. In the second generation after slavery they began to pursue education. For them, the first priority was financial security.
I think it is very interesting the areas in which we place our values. However, I realize that we have been socialized to the point that the more we are uneducated and have not the ability to engage in analytical thinking, the more we are dependent on others to think for us collectively. I know the concept of financial security is a intelligent priority, however, the bible (Quran, Torah, Hinduism, and probably even Buddha), says a fool a money will soon part. I just feel that with all of the wealth and material things that can be acquired and left behind, there is an abundance of power and the ability to acquire numerous things. Wealth and prosperity would probably be the answer to a lot of our problems, but will it loose the shackles the binds the person. Parliament funkadelic said "free your mind and your ass will follow. What if the person yearned for knowledge as much as a pair of Nike. What if we were more conscious of learning as we were in being in shape. I'm not talking about the African American, but most Americans. Who profits from a nation of uneducated people or undereducated folk. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
As an educator, I certainly would not disagree with a word you've said.
Returning, however, to the more specific topic of black farmers during the war, it is the case with the family of my focus that they used their financial stability and even a degree of prestige to found schools and churches. They also kept their land for many years and managed, when they were ready, to sell it. They still have some presence in the county where they settled, and many blacks who live there today and are landowners thank the Williamses for their leadership. All of this tells me that there was some depth to their knowledge.
Take a look at another of my blogs--http://ancestorknowledge.blogspot.com. I talk there about interviewing an elder (96 at the time) about the Williams family. Let me know what you think. And, hey, feel free to invite others into this discussion!
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