0:00

Hey, hey, hey, it's Alan. For two

0:02

years, we've been pouring our hearts into

0:04

an investigation with our colleagues at the

0:06

Center for Public Integrity. We

0:09

wanted to make sure to have it ready

0:11

for you by Juneteenth because the story is

0:13

called 40 Acres and a Lie.

0:15

And it's all about what happened to

0:17

the enslaved people of America after they

0:19

were set free. You see, the government

0:22

promised them 40 acres,

0:24

but that promise never came true.

0:27

Or did it? I

0:29

can't stop thinking about this show and I

0:31

hope it stays on your mind too. If

0:34

it resonates with you, please donate

0:36

today. As a nonprofit newsroom,

0:38

we are depending on the support of

0:40

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0:42

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0:45

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0:47

impactful journalism to all. So

0:50

please, gift today. It's easy. Text

0:52

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0:57

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1:01

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in all states and situations. The

2:00

year is 1983. I

2:03

was 11 and my parents were forcing

2:05

me to move from New Jersey to

2:07

North Florida, just outside of Jacksonville. The

2:10

culture shock was significant. We

2:13

were one of two black families that

2:15

lived in a middle-class white neighborhood. My

2:18

elementary school was about a mile and a

2:20

half away in a neighborhood

2:22

that was pretty much all black and mostly

2:24

poor. Every day,

2:27

I would ride my bike between

2:29

those two worlds, from the better

2:31

off white community, big homes, with

2:33

pools, yards, and nice cars, to

2:35

the black community. Many folks living

2:38

in little houses in need of repair, people

2:40

barely getting by. I

2:43

hung out with black and white kids

2:46

and everybody's parents seemed to work hard,

2:49

but the fruits of their labor were

2:51

vastly different. It never made

2:53

any sense to me. Then

2:55

came high school. It

2:59

was the heyday of conscious hip-hop and

3:02

public enemies burned with a righteous anger.

3:06

They rapped about things that I was experiencing

3:08

in the world around me and the history

3:10

behind me. Back with

3:12

them, on back with quick, got a truck to

3:14

put back after them. One of the aces and

3:16

a mule, back then. Man, why you tryin' to

3:18

pull the bike? It

3:21

led to an awakening, including

3:23

about 40 acres and a mule, a

3:26

promise from the federal government that newly

3:28

freed slaves would be given land, a

3:31

foundation, something they could pass to

3:33

their descendants. But that

3:35

promise wasn't kept. How

3:37

different that bike ride I took as a child

3:39

might have been if black people

3:42

had actually been given a fair

3:44

shot, if they'd been

3:46

given just a small piece of the wealth

3:48

they'd spent centuries building for others. Now,

3:52

I thought I understood the history of 40

3:54

acres and a mule, but what

3:56

I didn't know is that it was more than

3:58

just a promise. It actually

4:00

happened. Land titles. Ink

4:03

on paper. This

4:06

is episode one of our new

4:08

three-part series, 40 Acres and

4:10

a Lie. For

4:12

more than two years, our partners at the

4:14

Center for Public Integrity have been

4:16

digging through thousands of records that were

4:18

once buried in the National Archives. Lucy

4:21

Crosby. Philip Young. Amos Jackson.

4:24

John Meeker. James Firth. Public

4:26

Integrity reporters Alexia Fernandez Campbell,

4:28

April Simpson, and their colleagues

4:31

found proof that more than

4:33

1,200 formerly

4:35

enslaved people were given land titles

4:37

by the federal government. Samuel

4:40

Miller, 40 Acres on Edisto.

4:42

Fergus Wilson, 40 Acres

4:44

on Sapelo Island. Primus Morrison, 40

4:47

Acres on Edisto. And then,

4:50

had that land taken away, this

4:54

portrayal of Black Americans has fueled

4:56

a racial wealth gap that continues

4:58

today, more than 150 years later. There's

5:06

a line from W.E.B. Du Bois that goes like

5:09

this. The

5:11

slave went free, stood a brief moment

5:13

in the sun, then moved

5:15

back again toward slavery. This

5:18

is the story of that brief moment in

5:20

the sun. We

5:22

start with Public Integrity reporter

5:25

April Simpson and reveal producer

5:27

Nadia Hamdan in Edisto Island,

5:29

South Carolina. The

5:34

first thing you notice about Edisto are

5:36

the trees, these giant live

5:38

oaks draped in Spanish moss that form

5:40

canopies over the old gravel roads. The

5:44

second thing you notice is the water. This

5:47

place is a labyrinth of rivers

5:49

and tributaries, speckled with

5:51

salt marshes and nestled right on the

5:53

Atlantic Ocean. People

5:55

say, sometimes, if

5:58

you listen hard enough, you can hear a dog. and

6:00

go by. This

6:02

is the island where a

6:05

man named Jim Hutchinson was

6:07

enslaved and received his

6:09

40 acres. This

6:12

is one of the oldest roads on Edisto

6:14

Island. And this is

6:16

Jim's great great great grandson,

6:18

Greg Estebas. He's showing

6:20

us around. Look how the trees

6:23

go over the... Like archways. Yeah,

6:25

like archways. Greg

6:28

is a big guy, over six feet

6:30

tall, bald with a salt

6:32

and pepper goatee. He retired

6:34

from the Navy in 2004 and

6:36

then he worked for some time as a correctional officer.

6:39

Now he lives in Florida. He

6:42

spends part of his time driving for Uber and

6:44

the rest of it he spends writing history books.

6:47

History books about black life on

6:49

Edisto. Greg

6:52

can trace his roots through seven generations

6:54

on Edisto all the way up to

6:56

Jim Hutchinson's mother Maria. As

6:59

Greg drives he points out house after house.

7:01

You all see this house right here? This

7:04

empty house. And on here

7:06

a cousin down the road. So now would

7:09

you say that on this street this is majority

7:11

black families? Oh yeah yeah

7:13

yeah. You can look and see. You

7:17

can probably tell if

7:19

you're paying attention. Why

7:22

would you say that? These houses

7:24

you can tell that people

7:27

are not as

7:29

wealthy. What Greg

7:31

means is that on Edisto nearly

7:33

every black household earns less than

7:35

$40,000 a

7:37

year while close to half

7:39

of white households earn three times as much.

7:42

So Edisto Island black

7:44

residents have been economically

7:47

disadvantaged for many

7:50

many many many many many years.

7:53

Today just under 2,000 people

7:56

live here and the majority of them are

7:58

white. But on the brink

8:00

of the Civil War, Edisto's population was more

8:02

than double what it is today, and

8:05

only a few hundred were white. Many

8:07

were the plantation owners. The

8:09

rest were enslaved. People

8:11

like Jim. Greg

8:14

says Jim was a light-skinned black man

8:16

who spent much of his enslavement on the

8:18

water, ferrying people through those

8:20

many rivers and tributaries. He's

8:23

written a lot about Jim and feels a deep

8:25

connection to his story. So

8:27

do many others in the family. Now Aunt

8:29

Patty looks younger than I do, but

8:32

don't be fooled. Especially Greg's

8:34

Aunt Patty. My name is

8:36

really Patricia Suzan Lee St.

8:38

Clair Edwards, and then

8:41

I married a Bailey. Patty

8:43

is 76 years old but looks half her

8:45

age. She's got shoulder-length

8:47

hair that she wears in locks and

8:49

an infectious energy. Patty

8:52

was born in New York but remembers visiting Edisto

8:54

as a kid. I didn't like the

8:56

old house. I didn't

8:58

like things like that. But now when I

9:00

think about the well, we had

9:03

fresh cold water. My

9:06

grandfather had a beautiful horse. He would

9:08

ride sometimes. One time he put me

9:10

on. My mother had a fit. Patty

9:13

spent much of her life working as a

9:15

secretary in the neonatal unit of a hospital,

9:18

living in Harlem and the Boogie Down Bronx,

9:20

as she calls it. She

9:22

was happy there. But then in

9:24

1997, she was

9:27

diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Over

9:30

the next several years, the disease would attack

9:32

her central nervous system and affect her ability

9:34

to move. Her MS

9:36

was so bad at one point, Patty

9:39

had to start using a wheelchair. I don't have

9:41

any money. I didn't. I just

9:43

checked the check because I was on

9:46

disability. When something like

9:48

this happens, it can make you reflect on all

9:50

the things you still want in life. So

9:53

Patty made a vision board. She

9:56

filled it with pictures, words, symbols

9:58

of all those things. She

10:01

still has it. Oh, this is the vision

10:03

for me. I

10:06

wanted a dog. I wanted

10:08

to get married that Mary. What's

10:11

this here? Can you over this? Contact lens? Contact

10:13

lens. Yeah, and I did experience contact

10:15

lenses. Wow. And

10:19

money. I wanted money. Money. Now

10:22

here I said something about Eddy's store property. The

10:25

Eddy's store property. It's where we're

10:27

all standing right now. God came

10:30

to me. That's how I

10:32

really got down here. I was

10:34

sleeping and I woke up about 4.30 in

10:36

the morning because it was a

10:39

voice in my ear and it was so

10:41

crispy clear. And it

10:43

said, if you want

10:45

to get better, you

10:47

would have to move. And

10:50

I jumped up and I was like, oh my God,

10:52

I got to move. And so

10:54

she did because she could. The

10:57

Eddy's store property is land

10:59

that Jim Hutchinson once owned land

11:01

that has passed down from generation

11:03

to generation land

11:06

that now belongs to Patty,

11:08

his great, great granddaughter. Patty

11:12

built a home here in 2021. It

11:15

has four bedrooms and sits high among the

11:17

trees, a home where her body

11:19

could heal and has healed. The

11:21

land has become a place of peace. And

11:24

it's also her generational wealth.

11:27

You're not mine. This

11:31

is why we wanted to start Jim's story

11:33

here. Not at the beginning, but

11:36

at the end. To show you

11:38

what land can mean to someone like Patty. You

11:41

can even hear it in the way she says inheritance.

11:45

Owning property has been the American dream

11:48

far longer than that phrase has existed.

11:51

It's part of this country's inception. Land

11:54

was a means for realizing true

11:56

independence. And this was

11:58

the promise of 40 acres. But

12:02

here's the thing. None of

12:04

the land petty lives on today as

12:06

part of Gems Forty Acres because the

12:09

Federal government took all that land back

12:11

from him and tens of thousands. Of

12:14

others. The

12:16

land where Patty sits today. The

12:19

gym spent a decade of fighting for it. And

12:21

he wasn't just fighting for and. That

12:24

for other fried people on the island. It

12:27

wasn't until Patty moved to Edisto the she

12:29

really started to understand that like a c.

12:31

D. Up a date. They were cleaning

12:34

the road and my neighbor had

12:36

some friends without putting up cans

12:38

and what? As she said suppress

12:40

said this is patty. Since

12:43

since sees us and. Woman

12:45

dropped thirty six months of two

12:47

Mississippi. Ah, such as

12:49

it and see my two cents

12:51

He said read everything she said

12:54

as the honor to meet you.

12:58

Say wow so that me to see.

13:01

I'm. Made

13:04

me feel real. Could. I

13:07

still third. I

13:10

felt like part of the

13:12

earth satellites disclosed. That

13:14

so long ago.

13:18

This. Story goes back to January

13:21

Eighteen Sixty five military leaders were

13:23

trying to figure out what had

13:25

happened to fried people. After the

13:27

Civil War. And so these

13:29

societies to do something that felt. New ask

13:31

black people what they want and

13:34

the question is put to them.

13:36

This is Historian Doctor Allison

13:38

Dorsey. Of Swarthmore College. What do

13:41

you understand freedom to mean and

13:43

what is it that you will

13:45

need to be free? Their answer

13:47

was simple: we want land and

13:50

to be left alone. And

13:52

so the Us government issued special field.

13:55

Orders Number Fifteen otherwise known

13:57

as Forty Acres and A

13:59

Mule. The. Order

14:01

set aside land from South Carolina

14:04

to Upper Florida, including all of

14:06

the sea islands along the South

14:08

Carolina and Georgia post. This is

14:10

an area me this hundreds of

14:12

plantations temptations that would now be

14:14

cut off and given to fried

14:17

people. Some. People even

14:19

got land on the very plantation they

14:21

spent their life and slaved and it's

14:23

something many white people at the time

14:26

couldn't believe. Planters,

14:28

Have this fantasy that enslaved.

14:30

People are dependent on them. And

14:32

will forever be dependent in the new

14:34

life without slavery. But that's not the

14:37

vision that Black people. At very black

14:39

people had a vision that if I

14:41

can get my toehold in this land,

14:44

I can take care of myself. It

14:47

was a chance at true

14:49

independence. One. That was fully things

14:51

and by the Federal government. Because.

14:54

Despite popular belief. This.

14:56

Wasn't are some good faith handshake. Fried.

14:59

People were actually. Issued what are

15:01

known as possessor he land. Titles

15:03

In my literature I refer to

15:05

it as promissory titles because to

15:08

me that literally is how the

15:10

Friedman understood. The. Land

15:12

titles came from the Friedman's bureau.

15:15

A government agency set up to help

15:17

four million and sleeve transition into freedom.

15:21

To be clear, this land

15:23

wasn't as given. Black.

15:25

People with essentially rent the land. From

15:27

the government for three years. After

15:30

that, they were expected to have built

15:32

up enough wealth to buy the land

15:34

at right, and they were just. Starting

15:36

to tells mouth. Thought.

15:38

People began settling on acres

15:40

and acres of land, planting

15:43

crops, erecting homes, building a

15:45

life of their. Own for the first

15:47

time. With a government land

15:49

title in hand, I don't think we

15:51

can. Underestimate what it meant

15:53

for free people. To

15:56

think about this as. The the

15:58

promise of the future. These

16:01

land titles are why we're talking

16:03

about this history again now. My

16:06

colleagues and I at the Center

16:08

for Public Integrity has spent two

16:10

years. Revealing and more than a

16:12

million that Friedman's bureau records. And

16:15

so far we've been able to

16:17

independently. Confirm that more than twelve

16:20

hundred formally. And fleas people received

16:22

one of these possessor a land

16:24

titles. It's

16:26

the most detailed accounting to date. Of

16:28

how many black Americans receive plan. And

16:32

when you can actually look at a title? Read.

16:34

A person's name and see what

16:36

they got. You begin to understand

16:38

just how real Forty Acres was.

16:43

You see the water? And

16:45

stuff girl away. With

16:47

this isn't the property For three

16:49

years. Back

16:52

and at a cell greatest parked along

16:54

the waterfront. Know. Today as adding

16:56

healthy trend. But. Back

16:58

And Eighteen Sixty Five. This is known as

17:00

Be. View Plantation. And it's

17:02

here that him Hutchinson.

17:04

Guys. Forty acres. Him.

17:07

And seven other Friedman. There's

17:11

a bend in the road. Houses

17:13

sit along a winding waterway surrounded

17:15

by mars Land reads fuck out

17:18

of the Water. It's

17:20

a peaceful, soft. Now

17:23

it was a lot of black folks

17:25

who live here now or have bought

17:28

a white from. The

17:30

road as.is with large homes each

17:33

nearing and. Million dollars in

17:35

value. That's. Because

17:37

this is considered one of the most

17:39

desirable spots on that a So island.

17:42

And for a brief moment. At

17:44

least part of it was tense.

17:53

But it wouldn't last forty acres

17:55

of land and the wealth that

17:57

came with it would be returned

17:59

to. Muslims. Yeah,

18:01

I'm scared to talk about stuff

18:04

coming up. We talked to descendants

18:06

who inherited some of that land

18:08

that's next on reveal. Farmland.

18:24

Loss in the Us is an urgent issue.

18:26

Every. Day Two thousand acres of

18:28

agricultural land or paved over, fragmented

18:30

or converted to use is that

18:33

jeopardize for me. If you

18:35

eat food, this affects you. American

18:37

for my trust. His efforts have

18:39

resulted in a permanent protection of

18:41

over seven point eight million acres

18:43

of agricultural land in a Us.

18:45

But there's more work to do

18:47

to to protect farmland exists, but

18:49

they are not being applied as

18:51

aggressively as needed to purvis the

18:53

alarming loss of this irreplaceable resource.

18:56

We need to keep farming families

18:58

on the land and protect our

19:00

national food security. What can you

19:02

do about it? Star was being

19:04

aware of the importance an urgency

19:06

of farmland loss support. Your local

19:08

farmers, learn about farmland protection and

19:10

share your ideas with a friend.

19:12

Advocate for farmland protection in your

19:14

community, state or in the Federal

19:17

for bill. Together we can say

19:19

the land that sustains us all,

19:21

learn more and say gas in

19:23

an online.org. What's.

19:29

The difference between a war crime and a

19:31

crime against humanity? What kind of music you

19:33

listen to when you try to suffer Human

19:35

rights crisis. Human Rights work is a lot

19:38

more ordinary and a lot more wild than

19:40

what we all think. I am single fan

19:42

and the host of Human Rights watch his

19:44

new podcast Rights and Wrong. As this, I

19:46

take you to the places in the world

19:48

where human rights are most endangered in one

19:50

sense at all and tell you the stories

19:52

from the eyes of the people on the

19:55

frontlines of history is not us and listen

19:57

of wherever you get your podcasts. From

20:01

Center For Investigative Reporting in P

20:03

R X This is reveal. I'm

20:05

Alex is. Jim

20:08

Hutchinson was born in Slaved

20:10

on Peers Point Plantation, one

20:12

of the richest plantations in

20:14

South Carolina. Who

20:16

is owned by the Michael? Sam

20:18

are percent of we call this

20:20

a Fine Plantations this is take

20:22

me Michael He showing April and

20:24

Nadia around Peters Point there on

20:27

a golf cart because the property

20:29

is just too big to see

20:31

by foot think these Dog Hazel

20:33

runs alongside. This is quite

20:35

a workout. For a dog that I

20:38

do this twice as a with

20:40

her and she ah she doesn't

20:42

get it. She's like she crazy

20:44

right? Hey, I need to go

20:46

out now. Pc

20:48

is seventy three years old with a

20:50

map of gray hair and scruffy white

20:53

beard. The sleeves are rolled up in

20:55

his colors on but. He

20:58

also as an actor. Once upon

21:00

a time our to New York

21:02

to pursue that that didn't work

21:04

out. He. Became a contract to

21:07

instead. And now he's retired here

21:09

on Peters Point because he's always had

21:11

this land to come back to. Think.

21:14

Me Inherited the property from is great

21:16

great grandfather, Isaac Jenkins Michael. He's the

21:18

last man who own Peters Point back

21:21

when it was a twenty two hundred

21:23

acre cotton plantings. The.

21:25

Property sits on a small peninsula

21:27

with stunning views of slow flowing

21:30

rivers and marshes. Piece.

21:32

Point has shrunk over the years

21:34

today. Think these slices about a

21:37

hundred and eighty acres, overgrown with

21:39

hundreds of trees and sickness. What

21:42

is it like? Sixty five with the land? Out

21:45

never ever since and and I

21:47

had no idea was it costs

21:49

so much as be so difficult

21:51

to do. I have to actual

21:53

harm tractors and and the salon

21:55

fastest and I see a keyboard.

21:59

and pygmy says I can't

22:01

help but think about the enslaved people

22:03

who worked this land, who

22:05

were forced to do the back-breaking labor

22:07

required to keep this place running. So

22:10

this is one of the original drainage ditches

22:13

from the plantation fields. And

22:15

again, that must have been a horrible

22:17

job. You know, they

22:19

didn't have tractors and stuff. They had

22:22

carts and shovels and bags and wheelbarrows

22:25

and they laid down wooden

22:27

pathways. I've

22:30

seen amount of work. Oh, it was. In

22:34

1860, Isaac Jenkins Michael owned

22:37

around 300 enslaved people here.

22:41

This free labor fueled Edisto's

22:43

multi-million dollar cotton industry, making

22:46

plantation owners, as one newspaper

22:48

put it, quote, unbelievably wealthy.

22:51

And Isaac Jenkins Michael was near the top

22:53

of that list. So

22:56

we wanted to meet the new generation

22:58

of Michaels and have a hard conversation.

23:01

April and Nadia, pick it up from

23:04

here. Yeah,

23:06

I'm scared to talk about this stuff. Pinkney

23:09

knows how this looks. I'm

23:11

clearly a white guy who's benefited

23:14

tremendously by privilege

23:16

and the Civil War and everything

23:18

else. At the same time, I'm doing the best

23:20

I can. But still, it's

23:23

a scary conversation to have. And

23:26

still, he agreed to have it. Pinkney

23:29

calls himself a cranky

23:31

liberal. And as much as he

23:33

loved his life in New York, Edisto

23:35

has always been a part of him.

23:37

Try and think of a more southern

23:39

name than Pinkney. And not

23:41

just Pinkney, but Pinkney

23:44

Michael. It's a well-known

23:46

name in Edisto. My brother is

23:48

actually Isaac Jenkins Michael. Yes,

23:51

his brother is named after the original

23:54

Isaac Jenkins Michael. So

23:56

is his father, and so is

23:58

his great-grandfather. Can we

24:00

get a little less confusing? People. Call

24:02

him tanks Safety. So let's say

24:04

listen. And he also

24:07

agree to talk to us and was

24:09

do it suffered. From.

24:12

Thanks is eighty two years old. He.

24:14

Sold life insurance for fifty years and

24:16

he's kind of the opposite. Of as

24:18

cranky liberal brother. He's. Conservators:

24:21

Clean. See then with a trimmed mustache.

24:24

His. Button down shirt looks for sleepless.

24:27

Jenks also with computers point. On.

24:30

His own seventy acres. And. A

24:32

house that was originally built. In. The eighteen

24:34

Hundreds, so it's quite the fixer upper

24:36

eighties what it is he urged him.

24:39

Only put so much perfume on the

24:41

paid him sweetie belle crime but any

24:43

real. Jenks is really into

24:46

keeping things as s. He's.

24:48

A sounder and board member of the At

24:50

a Still Island Open Land Trust which works

24:52

to preserve island from over development. And

24:55

that's because. Thanks Really does

24:57

Love this place! Or we were

24:59

locked in so you have a most be close. To.

25:04

They. Think me and sinks

25:06

his land is worth over five. Million

25:08

Dollars and the roots of that

25:11

well started long before the Civil

25:13

War. Peters Point was one of

25:15

the world's largest producers as sea

25:18

Island cotton making eyes at Clinton's

25:20

Michael a very wealthy man. He

25:23

was able to leave an entire plan

25:25

peace and to several of his sons

25:28

and a significant amount of money. To

25:30

several of his daughters he was

25:32

were born a old man who

25:34

had four wives and fourteen way

25:36

to regroup. Not

25:38

to mention know that the

25:41

others like him hutchinson the

25:43

Hutcherson for slow you know

25:45

won't use. Whatever.

25:51

And. Sam was Isaac Jenkins michael

25:53

son. And sims mother was

25:55

an enslaved woman named Maria. And

25:58

while those pink me and gangster. to say

26:00

it, their cousin Carol Belzer

26:02

doesn't mince words. You know, my

26:04

great grandfather was not a nice

26:07

person. He obviously was a rapist.

26:10

And it's taken me a long time

26:12

to come to that

26:16

realization itself. Because

26:18

you don't like to think of your ancestors

26:20

as having dirty laundry.

26:24

And he did. Carol

26:27

is a biologist who lives down the road. It

26:29

was just a real

26:31

nasty time in our lives. Not

26:34

a pretty part of life. She

26:37

lives on one of the plantations Isaac Jenkins

26:39

Michael left one of his sons. It's

26:42

known as Sunnyside, and it's beautiful. You

26:45

feel like you're stepping back in time. Part

26:48

of the movie, The Notebook, was actually filmed

26:50

there. Carol

26:52

said she spent most of her life having

26:54

no idea that she was related to the

26:56

Hutchinsons. It wasn't until

26:58

around 2004 that it all started to become

27:00

more clear. And that was

27:02

partly thanks to a phone call from Greg

27:05

Asteva. And she says once

27:07

she knew, she invited Greg and some

27:09

of his family over for a visit. We

27:11

were over at the big house, and

27:14

we just were sitting over there chit-chatting.

27:16

And it was just wonderful. We had

27:18

a great time. And from

27:20

then on, it was like the

27:22

doors opened up. And I realized

27:25

I'm related to everybody on Edisto.

27:28

Everybody! It's

27:31

true that Edisto is full of

27:33

families whose histories are intertwined by

27:36

slavery. And while

27:38

Carol and Greg's families get alongside now, it

27:41

was very different in 1865. Jim

27:46

actually helped Union soldiers

27:48

capture Carol's great-grandfather during

27:50

the war. It was

27:52

really a world turned upside down. This

27:55

is Kate Maser, professor of

27:57

history at Northwestern University. And

28:00

she says, as slaveholders fled during the

28:02

war, Edisto essentially became

28:04

a Black Island. And

28:06

the formerly enslaved really believed, it is

28:09

their turn to have land, it's their

28:11

turn to have an opportunity to be

28:13

there. They were loyal to the United

28:15

States government, unlike the enslaved.

28:18

And the US government was giving them a

28:20

right to that land. Jim

28:23

was one of more than 350 formerly

28:25

enslaved people on Edisto to get a

28:27

land title from the Freedmen's Bureau. And

28:30

that number was only expected to

28:32

go. I mean, it was

28:34

offensive and an affront to many of the

28:36

former slave owners. So

28:39

obviously, most of the planters wanted their

28:41

land back. And

28:43

so they protested vehemently. Their

28:46

petition started rolling in. In

28:49

one letter to the president, 98 Sea

28:51

Island planters, including

28:53

Isaac Jenkins-Mugl, described

28:56

40 acres as cruelly

28:58

unjust and demanded that

29:00

the government remove this delusion and

29:03

restore the land to its rightful owners. It's

29:06

really an amazing example

29:08

of white elite

29:10

victimization, right? That here they

29:12

are, poor them, they

29:15

are so inconvenienced by this. And

29:17

of course, they are not acknowledging

29:19

the former slaves

29:21

worked for generations on

29:24

the land without pay

29:26

that anything might be due

29:28

to them or why they might

29:30

be entitled to live on their own and

29:33

have a share of the wealth here. Isaac

29:36

Jenkins-Mugl was not only against 40 acres.

29:40

In Edisto, he started the trend of

29:42

burning his cotton so that the enemy

29:44

couldn't benefit from it. And

29:46

like many Southern planters, he argued to

29:49

the Freedmen's Bureau that the land was

29:51

still legally his because he was told

29:53

to evacuate. Or as Pinkney

29:55

says it, We left, but we

29:57

didn't abandon it and we've been paying

29:59

taxes. the Confederacy. Now

30:01

we'll pay taxes to you, but we didn't

30:04

abandon this. Pinkney is

30:06

speaking to an argument many made at

30:08

the time, that the government could

30:10

only seize abandoned land. But

30:13

Dr. Allison Dorsey of Swarthmore

30:15

College says this distinction is

30:17

irrelevant. Because the reason that

30:19

you're being encouraged to

30:22

evacuate as the

30:24

Confederacy is losing is

30:26

that the Union Army is on the

30:28

march. But you sided

30:30

with traitors against your nation. So

30:34

you can spin that any way

30:36

you want to. I'm sorry, as

30:38

a 19th century historian and as

30:40

an African American and

30:42

as someone who's three generations

30:45

deep in military service, everybody

30:48

in the Confederacy is a traitor to

30:50

the United States. So I don't

30:53

know what else I can say. In

30:58

1865, agents with the Freedmen's Bureau basically said

31:00

the same thing, arguing that

31:03

Isaac has been, quote, aiding

31:05

and encouraging the rebellion. And

31:07

General Ruth Saksin, one of the leaders

31:09

of the 40 Acres program, even

31:12

wrote to his fellow general saying, quote,

31:15

I cannot break face now by

31:17

recommending the restoration of any of these

31:19

lands. In my view,

31:21

this order of General Sherman is

31:23

as binding as a statute. But

31:27

President Lincoln was assassinated just a month

31:29

after 40 Acres went into

31:32

effect. And while the

31:34

military was prepared to push back on

31:36

the former slaveholders, the nation's new president,

31:39

Andrew Johnson, was not. All

31:42

you had to do is sign an

31:44

oath of allegiance, acknowledging that

31:46

you were now going to be

31:48

loyal to the United States and

31:51

present to him personally. And you

31:53

got your status back. effect.

32:01

Military generals leading the Freedmen's Bureau didn't want

32:04

to see it go, but

32:06

ultimately Johnson forced their hand. By

32:10

the time it was all over, the 40-acres

32:12

program would last about 18 months.

32:16

In that time, around 40,000 freed

32:18

people had settled on hundreds

32:20

of thousands of acres across

32:22

Georgia and South Carolina. Not

32:25

all of them had land titles, but

32:27

many believed it was only a matter of time.

32:30

Instead, the land would be

32:33

returned to former slaveholders. And

32:36

Allison says it's hard to overstate just

32:38

how devastating this was for freed people.

32:41

My sense is that they

32:43

understood this as a broken promise, and

32:45

I would go out on a limb

32:48

and say for some of those black men

32:50

in uniform who had just fought as part

32:52

of the Union Army that this

32:54

was a betrayal. Records

32:58

show that at least nine formerly

33:00

enslaved people were actually given 40-acre

33:03

land titles on Peter's Point. But

33:06

Isaac King and Michael got that land back

33:08

before they had a chance to do anything

33:10

with it. Pinkney

33:13

and Jenks know their history well. They've

33:16

shown us genealogies that go back to

33:18

the early 18th century. They

33:21

live on the same land where their ancestors lived,

33:24

land where Jim Hutchinson and many

33:26

others were once enslaved. We've

33:28

seen the ditches these black people dug with

33:31

our own eyes, still here more

33:33

than a century later. Not

33:37

only that, but the brothers have

33:39

broken bread with Jim's descendants. And

33:42

because of this deeper connection to not just

33:44

their own history, but Jim's,

33:47

we couldn't help but wonder if the

33:49

Michaels ever wrestled with the question of

33:52

what's owed. Nadia

33:54

starts with Jenks. have

34:00

worked land on these

34:02

plantations on Edisto Island are

34:05

warranted some kind of

34:07

payment or reparations for the time they

34:10

spent enslaved? No. No.

34:12

No. Why is that? Anybody

34:16

in this country who wants

34:18

to do better has

34:20

the opportunity to do it. There

34:23

are many, many, many black folks around

34:25

this country that have been

34:27

very, very successful. Now you explain

34:29

to me why. I mean,

34:31

I guess I'm trying to understand how It's

34:34

all a pinup. hundreds of We

34:36

keep giving away stuff. That's

34:39

all we gonna be able to do is

34:41

give away because people don't wanna work because

34:43

they don't have to work because

34:45

all we're doing is giving them freebies.

34:47

Nobody ever gave me anything other than

34:49

this, but I now had

34:52

to sweat bullets to keep it. I

34:54

respect that. I just, you

34:56

know, there's no denying that hard work has gone

34:59

into your life, Pinkney's life, Carol's life, everyone's

35:01

life. But I think even you just said,

35:03

I haven't been given anything, but I was

35:06

given this. And so

35:09

is it not fair to at least

35:11

acknowledge that there has been some privilege

35:13

in having hold of this land? Did

35:15

they not have land? They

35:18

meeting black people. Yeah, they had it. And then

35:20

it was taken away. I don't know whether it

35:22

was taken away or not. Some of it was

35:24

given back, but not all of it.

35:29

But we do know the land was

35:31

taken away. And while some

35:33

fought to hold onto it, almost none

35:35

of this land was given back. We

35:38

tell this story to James, the same way

35:40

we pulled it to you. And

35:43

after we do, Nadia tries to

35:45

ask the question another way. How

35:47

do we try to give some

35:49

kind of reparations for

35:51

a really painful history

35:53

in which a lot of wealth

35:55

that many of us have benefited

35:57

from was enlarged. part

36:00

due to the free labor of black

36:02

people, slavery. And

36:04

so it's a difficult conversation. There's no

36:06

doubt. I still don't know if I

36:09

have a full grasp on reparations

36:11

as a whole, but that's why we're asking questions.

36:13

And that's why we're trying to understand what do

36:15

we think we should do to try

36:18

to reckon with that past? I just,

36:20

I don't know. I wish I had an

36:22

answer to that. I'm just, I'm not

36:27

happy with where this country is right now.

36:29

Do you have an idea of what you would

36:31

like to see happen? You know, at least maybe

36:33

even in your own community, if since you've lived

36:36

here a long time and you turn that plane

36:38

off for a second. We

36:41

turn the mic off. It's clear

36:43

we've reached a dead end with Yanks. And

36:46

while the interview ultimately ends amicably, it

36:48

reminds us again how hard it is to talk

36:51

about this stuff. But

36:53

this question about reparations isn't just for Yanks.

36:56

We ask Pinkney the same thing. It's

36:58

a societal problem or it will never be

37:01

fixed. And many people think it's not as

37:03

a societal problem because I didn't benefit. I

37:06

didn't do it. I had anything to do with

37:08

this. No, you didn't, but

37:10

you benefited. We're still

37:13

benefiting. It'll

37:16

eventually happen. I'm

37:18

sure it will, but it's just not happening

37:20

very quickly. And why do you

37:22

think that is that, you know, something that I've always

37:24

tried to grapple with is this understanding that, you

37:27

know, everyone agrees when you talk to people,

37:29

no matter where they are on the political

37:31

spectrum, slavery was abhorrent. We should have never

37:33

done it. But then when it comes time

37:35

to talk about how to fix

37:38

the problem, we're so resistant to

37:40

that conversation. Would

37:42

you stop that for a minute? Yeah,

37:44

you want me to? We

37:47

shut the mic off again. This

37:50

time we get an answer, but

37:52

Pinkney doesn't want it on the record. It's

37:54

a little surprising because he's been so candid. Is

37:58

the hesitation just one? to

38:00

keep peace since this is your home? No,

38:07

no, because I've stirred up enough arguments.

38:09

I don't keep the peace very well,

38:13

but I don't know what would be gained by it. It

38:17

wouldn't change anybody, and

38:20

it would make things

38:22

uncomfortable. And God knows,

38:24

I make plenty of people uncomfortable already. You

38:26

know, I'm a Democrat

38:29

in South

38:31

Carolina and a liberal one

38:33

at that. That

38:35

makes people plenty uncomfortable. But

38:38

it's sort of like poking a beehive. I'll

38:43

do it in a lot of ways,

38:45

but this is something I can't make

38:47

it better. I can't

38:50

hardly get heard. I

38:52

just get tuned out. So

38:55

I don't go there. But

39:01

for Jim Hutcheson's descendants, not

39:03

going there isn't an option. These

39:06

are our answers. These are our people. So

39:10

this is deeply personal. Next

39:14

up, how the story ends for Jim and

39:16

what it means to his family. That's

39:19

ahead on Reveal. Hey,

39:33

y'all, this is Deray. I'm an activist,

39:36

educator, and host of Cricut Media's Pod

39:38

Save the People, alongside the most incredible

39:40

colors in the game, Kai Henderson, Miles

39:42

Johnson, and D.R. Ballinger. Each

39:44

week, we share overlooked stories on race

39:46

and justice, news and issues that you

39:49

probably didn't hear in the mainstream, but

39:51

impact real people's lives every single day.

39:53

Through thoughtful group conversation and interview special

39:55

guests, you'll learn not only what's worth

39:58

taking action on, but how to take

40:00

action effectively. From

40:02

the Center for Investigative Reporting and

40:04

PRX, this is Reveal. I'm

40:07

Al Letzen. Greg

40:09

Estebez is showing April and Nadia

40:11

a small wooden chapel. Yes, this

40:14

is the church. It's

40:16

known as Trinity Church. Greg

40:18

brought them here because this was the

40:20

site of a crucial turning point for

40:22

Jim Hutchinson and so many others on

40:24

Edisto and across the south. There was

40:27

a general that came here to

40:29

give the bad news. It

40:32

was here that newly freed people would

40:34

learn that the 40 acres program had

40:37

been revoked. Church was packed.

40:40

As a matter of fact, there was many people

40:42

that was looking through the windows because they couldn't

40:44

even get in and he

40:46

came and that's when he told them that

40:49

the land grants that they had gotten was

40:52

no good. They have to go

40:54

back to work for the slave

40:56

masses that they had already

40:58

been enslaved to. We

41:02

found a diary of that day written by a

41:04

white woman from the north, a

41:06

teacher at one of the Freedmen's Bureau

41:09

schools. She remembers the

41:11

general telling freed people, quote, their

41:13

old masters had been pardoned and

41:16

their plantations were to be given back to

41:18

them, that they wanted to come

41:20

back to cultivate the land and would hire the

41:22

blacks to work for them. It

41:25

would become a system that wasn't

41:27

quite slavery, but close. So

41:30

not only do they have to give the land

41:33

grants back, but they have to

41:35

go back to the system that it

41:37

just came out of. Can you imagine?

41:40

Can you imagine? I

41:43

can't. The

41:47

woman's diary says freed people truly

41:50

didn't understand it first. But

41:54

as they started to understand the

41:56

room filled with quote, murmurs of

41:58

dissatisfaction. She remembers

42:01

the general standing with two of

42:03

the island's largest plantation owners asking

42:05

freed people to lay aside their

42:07

bitter feelings and become

42:10

reconciled with their old masters. She

42:13

heard people in the crowd say no, never. Can't

42:17

do it. And

42:30

then the black people started to sing. It

42:34

was a spiritual that is very familiar

42:36

to us today. I'm

42:39

gonna ask you to listen to this song

42:41

within the context of history. This

42:44

is 1865. The

42:46

people in that church were enslaved just

42:48

a few years earlier. And

42:50

this is a song they and

42:52

their ancestors before them would sing

42:55

to help their spirits survive the

42:57

brutality of slavery. And

42:59

now they were turning to it again. These

43:06

are our ancestors, these are our people, you

43:09

know, so this is deeply

43:11

personal. It's very deeply

43:13

personal. Many

43:33

freed people had already put their

43:35

crops in the ground. They built

43:37

homes. They were establishing their own

43:40

self-governing communities. They had

43:42

felt true independence only

43:44

to have it taken back. Jim

43:46

Hutchinson was one of them. He had

43:49

felt freedom, however brief, and he wasn't going

43:51

back. He would

43:53

lose those 40 acres and get himself some

43:55

more. Here's April Anadia. We

44:01

found a letter Jim wrote to the governor of

44:03

South Carolina that says a lot

44:05

about his tenacity. It

44:08

was written on behalf of the black community

44:10

on Edisto, and it describes the

44:12

quote, embarrassed condition they find

44:14

themselves in without land. But

44:17

he knows there is a 900-acre plantation for

44:19

sale, and he's asking that

44:21

it be purchased for him and his people,

44:24

who will then refund the money in due time. He

44:27

urges the governor to make it happen so

44:29

his community may quote, know

44:31

the right side of justice. The

44:36

governor rejects him, but Jim doesn't give up.

44:39

He keeps trying for ten years

44:42

until it finally works. By

44:45

1876, Jim

44:48

and 20 other freedmen were able to get nearly 700 acres

44:50

of land. They

44:53

bought it together and divided it all up.

44:56

Jim's piece was about 230 acres,

45:00

and if you're trying to do the math, that's

45:02

four times more than 40 and then

45:04

some. This

45:07

was the start of the Hutchinson's

45:09

generational wealth. Some lots

45:11

were sold off over the years. Others

45:14

were never willed to anyone and are sitting in

45:16

a sort of legal limbo known as heirs property.

45:19

But it's not all gone. Six

45:22

acres of Jim's land are still in the family. All

45:25

up in here is Hutchinson. Which

45:28

brings us back to Aunt Patty,

45:30

Jim's great-great granddaughter. I

45:32

know this is sacred land here because

45:34

it's my ancestors, and I feel

45:36

it. I feel

45:39

safe here. I

45:41

feel like I can do so much. I must

45:43

try to do as much as I can with

45:45

this property before I'm not here anymore. Patty

45:49

now lives with her 87-year-old brother, Henry,

45:51

who's been sitting quietly listening to us

45:53

talk about Jim. I don't

45:56

know too much about him. What is

45:58

it like to learn about him now? You

46:00

said Koch now he gets

46:02

a D and his own

46:04

house is a home. Kim

46:08

was shot and killed and eighteen Eighty Five.

46:10

During the Fourth of July picnic on his

46:13

family's land. A big

46:15

group of friends and relatives were gathered

46:17

there when a white man named Fred

46:19

persona. According to news

46:21

reports became and bar and per class

46:23

in the past so. This wasn't

46:25

a friendly that that. Kim

46:27

told him to lease and the

46:29

conversation devolved into his despite at

46:32

his trial. Birth. Testified that

46:34

he only to his revolver to intimidate

46:36

him. And it went off by mistake. But.

46:39

Witness testimony says he fired

46:41

almost immediately. Bar

46:43

it was found guilty of manslaughter by a

46:45

nearly all black theory. But.

46:48

He appealed his conception that a new

46:50

trial. And was ultimately acquitted.

46:53

By. An all white jury

46:55

also learned since may dad

46:57

repository node. Zebra

47:00

did since com and rated in

47:02

broad daylight. I

47:05

don't interfere me midfield somebody

47:07

ceremonies. Were

47:10

used to. It

47:14

was about. Money at think it was

47:16

about. That

47:19

and soon stood self Burma what

47:21

he believed in and it was

47:23

like back there with slavery and

47:25

and the every day. It

47:28

was so to skip over, it's

47:30

those muscles, Daves. Think you. Can.

47:33

Do this. How do you

47:35

do Not walk around all

47:37

proudly? In. Are so I

47:40

think it was about that. By

47:44

all accounts, And. Jam was a proud

47:47

man. he even became

47:49

known as one of the black kings

47:51

of at us now because he didn't

47:53

as get land for himself he thought

47:55

it for his community but despite his

47:58

crown and gyms two hundred and 30

48:00

acres were nothing compared to the wealth

48:02

of his white father. According

48:06

to an 1880 census, Isaac

48:08

Jenkins' Michael's Land was worth well over

48:10

100 times the

48:13

value of Kim's, and 160

48:15

years later, the needle has only moved

48:17

so much. In

48:20

2022, for every $100

48:22

white Americans had, black people had 15.

48:27

And experts say that's because today's

48:29

wealth is built on yesterday's, and

48:32

yesterday's wealth is built in

48:35

large part on slavery. Despite

48:42

everything Kim gained, this

48:44

is still a story of loss. He

48:47

was enslaved for most of his life. The

48:49

promise of 40 acres turned out to be a lie.

48:52

Then he was killed on the very land

48:55

he fought for years to get. And

48:58

the wealth gap that started in Jim's lifetime still

49:01

exists in Craig's. And

49:03

I'm just wondering, do descendants of

49:05

Jim Hutchinson, like you, should

49:08

they get reparations? Should you get reparations?

49:10

Like, what do you think about that? So,

49:15

if you look at the totality, the

49:18

Middle Passage, free

49:21

labor, Jim Crow,

49:24

civil rights, yes,

49:27

you know, I think there

49:29

should be some type of reparations. What

49:33

that is, I can't tell you. I'm

49:36

not smart enough to know how to fix it. I

49:39

don't know how to fix it. You

49:41

know, even today, a lot of people don't even want

49:43

to acknowledge it. And

49:45

if they do acknowledge it, they downplay it.

49:49

Correct me if I'm wrong. Yes. I

49:52

think we've experienced some of that just in

49:55

our conversations with some folks here. Our

49:57

impression is it's hard for people to... look

50:00

at it straight and

50:02

it makes them feel bad. So

50:04

they'd rather not. Yeah.

50:11

I can turn it off. Oh, yeah. Greg

50:16

asks us to turn off the mic because he

50:18

starts to cry. He

50:20

says he's had conversations where people downplay

50:23

the impacts of slavery over and

50:25

over again. And

50:27

talking about that now with us, it

50:29

all catches up to him. But

50:32

there's something else about this moment. It's

50:35

the third time we've been asked to turn off

50:37

the mic during our reporting. And

50:40

that's telling. Because

50:42

if it's still this hard to talk about, it

50:45

means there's still so much more to say.

50:51

The Smithsonian's African American History Museum

50:53

in Washington, D.C. was built only

50:56

in the last decade. The

50:58

slave cabin on display there is from Edisto.

51:02

Greg and his family helped get it there. And

51:04

if you were to read one of the museum panels

51:06

around it, you'll notice a now

51:09

familiar name, Jim Hutchinson.

51:12

Aunt Patty remembers visiting the museum,

51:14

seeing that plaque and reading Jim's

51:16

story there for the first time.

51:19

I started crying. I

51:21

said, it's

51:25

my great-grandfather. That's my great-grandfather.

51:28

I had to tell somebody.

51:32

I cried and I had to tell

51:34

somebody. I said, this is my grandpa.

51:37

I didn't know who the people were. I just

51:39

wanted somebody to know, that's

51:41

my great-great-grandfather. I

51:44

am so, so proud. I

51:46

am. I always thought

51:49

it was something special about us. You've

52:01

been listening to 40 Acres and a

52:03

Lie, a new three-part investigation from Reveal

52:06

in the Center for Public Integrity. Next

52:09

week, we go to a pristine gated

52:11

community in Georgia surrounded by nature. Oh

52:14

my gosh, I think a heron caught a fish. A

52:16

place where wealthy retirees practice their

52:18

golf swing. The whole fear is

52:20

upbeat. Everyone is happy. But

52:24

the land has a history. So

52:26

here I'm showing you two different land titles of two

52:28

freedmen who got 40 acres on the

52:31

plantation that is where your house is located.

52:33

This is breaking news, really. That's

52:36

next time on 40 Acres and a Lie. In

52:39

the meantime, to see the historical

52:41

records for yourself, we've got links

52:44

at revealnews.org/40 Acres. This

52:48

story was reported by April Simpson with

52:50

help from Nadia Hamdan. Nadia

52:52

was our lead producer. Roy Hirst

52:55

also produced today's episode. They had

52:57

help from Steven Rascone. Cynthia Rodriguez

52:59

is the series editor. Thanks

53:02

to our partners at the

53:04

Center for Public Integrity, including

53:06

Alexia Fernandez-Campbell, Prateek Ravala, Jennifer

53:08

LaFlore, McNellie Torres, Ashley Clark,

53:10

Vanessa Freeman, Peter Newbit Smith,

53:13

and Wesley Lowry. We

53:15

also had help from genealogist Vicki McGill. For

53:18

a full list of researchers and

53:20

document transcribers, go to revealnews.org. This

53:23

project was supported by a grant from the

53:25

Fund for Investigative Journalism and Wind Code Foundation.

53:28

Victoria Baranetski is Reveals General Counsel.

53:31

Our production manager is Zulema Cobb,

53:33

score and sound design by the

53:35

dynamic duo Jay Breezy, Mr. Jim

53:37

Briggs, and Fernando Ma-Man-Yo Arruda. With

53:39

vocals by Ren Woods and additional

53:41

music by Dave Leonard, our interim

53:44

executive producers are Brett Myers and

53:46

Taki Telenides. Support

53:48

for Reveals provided by listeners like

53:50

you and the Riva and David

53:52

Logan Foundation, the John D. and

53:54

Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Jonathan

53:56

Logan Family Foundation, the Robert Wood

53:58

Johnson Foundation, the The Park Foundation

54:00

and the Hellman Foundation. Reveal

54:03

is a co-production of the Center for

54:05

Investigative Reporting and PRX. I'm

54:07

Al Letzen. And remember, there is always

54:09

more to the soon.