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Contribution #311 of 365
Samuel and Harriet Barber
Farmers, Reconstruction-Era Landowners and South Carolina Property Pioneers
1872–1879
The contribution
How this work helped shape America
Formerly enslaved in South Carolina, Samuel and Harriet Barber established a family farm after emancipation and purchased 42½ acres in 1872. Harriet later obtained title to the property in her own name in 1879, strengthening the family's legal control of the land. Their farm became an intergenerational holding that demonstrates Black families' pursuit of agricultural independence and property security during Reconstruction.