“S” is for South Carolina Land Commission

“S” is for South Carolina Land Commission. In 1869 the General Assembly established the South Carolina Land Commission. The commission’s goal was to purchase land for sale in plots of between twenty-five  and one hundred acres, which would then be sold to landless African Americans on favorable terms. From the beginning the Commission was plagued by organizational and other problems. In addition to corruption and incompetence, the operation of the Land Commission was commonly dictated by politics more than economics. By 1871 approximately one-half of the Commission land was in the Black majority counties of Charleston, Colleton, Georgetown, and Beaufort. After 1877 the state’s White politicians moved the South Carolina Land Commission away from its original intent, viewing it purely as a source of state revenue. Land was sold in large parcels and eviction rules were vigorously enforced.