The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund

For almost a century, the number of Black farmers and Black-owned land steadily declined. One of the primary reasons for that decline was and continues to be heirs’ property. More than 60 percent of Black farmers currently operate on heirs’ property.

Land is by far one of the greatest and most valuable assets African American farmers possess. The causes of under-utilization and loss of rural black land are numerous and complex, but none is more notable than heirs property. 

More than 200 people attended the first National Heirs Property Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in December 2019. The conference was co-sponsored by the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund.

The Black Family Land Trust provides resources to African-Americans and other historically underserved landowners to protect and preserve their land.

An expanded concept of the “black commons” – based on shared economic, cultural and digital resources as well as land – could be a part of undoing the racist legacy of chattel slavery by encouraging economic development and creating communal wealth.