On January 16th, 1865, General William T. Sherman instructed that 400,000 acres across the Atlantic Cosst of Georgia, South Carolina and Northern Florida be divvied up into 40 acre plots and be redistributed to black slaves who had suffered unspeakably under slavery.
Infamously, Sherman and the U.S. Government never fulfilled this promise, believing that traditional wage labor rather than a redistribution of land would help freedmen move upwards in society, and gave the land back to its prewar owners. Many of these owners were former slave owners.
What if Sherman and the federal government kept its original promise of giving Atlantic Coast land to freedmen and former slaves? What effects would this have on the Southern economy, culture and collective identity? Would this be viewed as an example for future land redistribution, or would it just be limited to the original 400,000 acres? How would this change the general Southern psyche?
And, arguably most importantly, would this help freedmen achieve economic and social prosperity, rather than becoming then becoming second-class citizens like they did in OTL?