Down in the Mississippi Delta, the Lester Family made a space for themselves and claimed their land–and they didn’t need “40 Acres and a mule” to do it.

In February 2023, Pearline Lester passed away peacefully. We’re revisiting this story about her family’s legacy in her honor. Her husband, Elbert Lester has lived his full life in Quitman County, Mississippi, on land their family owns. That’s exceptional for Black people in this area today, but at one time, Black farmers owned the majority of this land. What happened to change that? Host Kai Wright goes on a search for the truth. With help from historians John Willis and Eric Foner, he uncovers a story about an old and fundamental question in American politics – Who are the rightful owners of this country’s staggering wealth?

This episode was originally published as ‘40 Acres in Mississippi’ on January 30, 2020. Listen to more episodes here.

Companion listening from our archives:

A Secret Meeting in South Bend (2/27/2020)Who Owns the Deed to the American Dream (9/29/2016)

“Notes from America” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on notesfromamerica.org or on WNYC’s YouTube channel.

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Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

How Black People Remade Mississippi

Notes from America with Kai Wright