User:Pcarney1/Homestead Acts

Also involved in the acts were Buffalo soldiers, African-American soldiers that were key in building the American frontier in the West. They often engaged in wars with Native Americans, led by the government, to take over indigenous land.

Indian Homestead Act of 1875
The 1862 Homestead Act did not include indigenous peoples, so Congress passed the Indian Homestead Act to give Native family heads the opportunity to purchase homesteads from unclaimed public lands. This was under the condition that the individual relinquished their tribal identity and relations, along with the land improvement requirements. The federal land title was not officially granted to Native Americans until a period of five years had passed.

Because the US government did not issue fee waivers, many poor non-reservation Natives were unable to pay filing fees to claim homesteads. Access to such homesteads was further complicated by delays in resolving border disputes due to distance and discord between the US Land Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. This made white settlements easier to finalize.

Effects on minority groups
The land distributed during the Homestead Acts included the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, along with other areas in the far west, all of which were previously inhabited by various indigenous tribes.

Indigenous people
Native ancestral lands had been limited through history, mainly through land allotments and reservations, causing a gradual decrease in this indigenous land. Many of these land-grabs occurred during and after treaty negotiations between indigenous tribes and the United States. Native Americans often traded their land in exchange for citizenship and civil rights. Due to the United States' economic power, these tribes had little leverage and millions of acres of land were transferred from their ownership. It was difficult for indigenous people to legally challenge this infringement because they lacked legal rights and legal standing. These treaties were used to naturalize and civilize Native Americans.

As an indirect, de facto way to secure the dispossessed land, the US government allowed late homesteading during the early twentieth century. This acted as a way to solidify settlements and permanently disrupt tribal land practices in the face of backlash.

This Homestead Acts also resulted in tensions between settlers and indigenous people, partly due to settlers moving onto indigenous territory while it was still occupied. Settlements excused Indian removal and culminated in multiple wars waged by settler militia.

African Americans
Many African Americans took advantage of the Homestead Acts to both advance socio-economically and escape discrimination in the South during and after Reconstruction. African Americans that settled in the West and the Midwest were known as exodusters.

In the South, poor farmers and sharecroppers made up the majority of the population. So, the Southern Homestead Act of 1866 was established during the Reconstruction era, selling land at a lower price to decrease poverty among the working class. But the act was unsuccessful because these low prices were still too high for most to afford. The land made available was also mostly undeveloped forestry, and only white people had the means to make them productive. Most affected were the newly freed black sharecroppers, facing racial discrimination, as well as these economic hardships.