New series investigates broken promises of 40 Acres and a Mule

On January 16, 1865, Union General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15. The order gave confiscated Confederate plantations to newly emancipated Black people. The order divided 400,000 acres of coastal property into 40-acre sections. That’s where the promise of 40 acres and a mule comes from.

The history of what happened to the land and the families who were supposed to inherit it is now the focus of the investigative series, “40 Acres and a Lie.”  The series produced by The Center for Public Integrity, Mother Jones, and the show, “Reveal,” aims to shed light on how a government program gave land to formerly enslaved people following the Civil War and how that land was rescinded following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

On Monday’s edition of “Closer Look,” show host Rose Scott talks with Alexia Fernández Campbell, a lead reporter of the investigation, and Mila Rios, a descendant whose ancestor was given land in Savannah, Georgia.