Posts
🪧 BHM 2026 by QCT | Post #10
🎓 The Myth of Freedom Without Land (1865)
In 1865, the end of the Civil War ⚔️ and the passage of the 13th Amendment 📜 meant more than just headlines for North Carolina—it meant sudden, risky freedom for roughly 350,000 Black people 🧑🏿🌾 who had been enslaved, living among about 650,000 whites 🤍 in the state.
This new freedom came with no land 🌾, no compensation 💰, and no real support 🚫 for people deliberately denied education 📚, property rights 🏠, and wage autonomy 💼 for generations.
Many newly freed Black North Carolinians tried to survive by working for white landowners 👨🏻🌾 or by following Union forces 🇺🇸, hoping the U.S. government would honor General Sherman’s promise of “🌾40 acres and a 🐴 mule.” That promise was revoked ❌ in Washington, leaving Black families still taking orders without the tools to build independence.
The result for many was tenant farming and sharecropping 🌱 — systems that kept Black laborers tied to white-owned land through debt 💸, manipulative contracts 📑, and economic dependency ⛓️.
To counteract Southern resistance 🛑, Radical Republicans in Congress 🏛️ created the Freedmen’s Bureau 🏫 to assist with work, justice ⚖️, and education 🎓. But white Southerners pushed back, accusing it of “stirring up trouble” simply for challenging the old racial order 🧱.
This isn’t about “Black people not knowing how to take care of themselves” 🙄 — it’s about a federal government that ended slavery without offering land, protection, or structural support 🧱, while white supremacists rebuilt the old system under a new name 📉.
📢 Freedom without resources is just another form of
control.
💡 True freedom requires ownership,
protection, and opportunity.
📅 Event Details
🚌 Tour: 28th Annual Queen City Tours®
Charlotte Black/African-American Heritage Tour
📍 Location:
Charlotte, North Carolina
🗓️ Dates:
February 1–28, 2026 (Black History Month)
🕒 Times:
Daily @ 10:00 AM & 1:00 PM
🌐 Website: https://charlottepilgrimagetour.com
📞
Contact: (704) 566-0104 | info@queencitytours.com
📲 Hashtags
#BHM2026 #QueenCityTours #CharlotteBlackHistory #ReconstructionEra #FreedmensBureau #BlackHeritageTour #40AcresAndAMule #BlackHistoryMatters #SharecroppingTruths #TeachTheTruth #CivilWarLegacy #BlackEconomicHistory #CharlotteNC #QCTLegacy #HiddenHistoryRevealed
North Carolina's population and enslaved people in 1865:
https://www.ncpedia.org/quick-facts/north-carolina-population-1860The Freedmen’s Bureau and its work in North Carolina:
https://www.freedmensbureau.archives.gov/General Sherman’s Special Field Orders No. 15 (“40 acres and a mule”):
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/freedmens-bureauSharecropping and tenant farming after the Civil War:
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/sharecroppingRadical Republicans and Reconstruction policies:
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstructionEducation and racial segregation in the South after slavery:
https://www.nationalmuseumofafricanamericanhistory.org/explore/stories/segregation
