,” a deeply researched and counterintuitive history of how ordinary Black Americans used law in their everyday lives from the last decades of slavery to the 1970s. Penningroth reframes the conventional story of civil rights, shifting the focus away from iconic figures, mass protests, strategic lawsuits and federal legislation to highlight a neglected history of deeds, divorce petitions, corporate charters and other legal rights.
Starting in the 1800s, Penningroth shows how enslaved people frequently made agreements with their enslavers, other White people and free Black people, and among themselves. While not legally binding, these deals were grounded in shared understandings about property and contract. These agreements became “prescriptive rights” over time through continuous and undisputed possession or use.
And the Holcombs were not alone. Black homeownership climbed from 43,000 families in 1870 to more than 500,000 families in 1910 . Black farmers owned more than 15 million acres and roughly $208 billion in farm property in today’s dollars. Lynchings also rose sharply in these years, and not coincidentally. “Black landownership represented a threat to white supremacy,” Penningroth writes, and “lynchers often targeted successful Black farmers and businesspeople.