Talk:40 acres and a mule

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The first primary source for this article is no longer available. Can anyone else find a strong source to support the information within the article?

I have a question? Sherman did his math wrong because 400,000 acres divided by 40,000 newly freed black slaves would be 10 acres and a mule not 40. Can anyone tell me why it is 40 and not 10? thanks pheifdog

Assumedly the land would go not to former slaves per say but to their households; the equation works if you figure an average house of four. 74.36.192.45 04:10, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 40 acres and a mule

40 acres has to do with what was concidered profitable and stable at the time. Ten good acres could bring a farmer a good garden crop for himself but for profit, forty acres was a standard plot.

The real question isn weather he was right but did he the authority? what was Shermans orders? What power did those order give him and why does the white decendents continue fighting reprorations so hard? -Antony —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 199.173.226.228 (talk) 17:47, 3 January 2007 (UTC).

Not enough mules for one thing.74.36.192.45 04:45, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Was the land ever reclaimed?

Johnson may have revoked Sherman's order and returned the legal rights to the former owners, but were the black homesteaders ever actually kicked off the land? I have read that many of them were never removed and their descendents are still living in the area (technically squatting on "abandoned" land, much like the Gullah of the Sea Islands or the Smokey Hollow community in Tate, Georgia). 74.36.192.45 04:10, 15 April 2007 (UTC)