Timeline: Black Farmers and the USDA, 1920 to Present
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a long history of discrimination against Black farmers.
1933
New Deal legislation to address low crop prices by reducing acres of farmland displaces many Black farmers.
1965
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights finds USDA discriminated against Black farmers when providing loans and conservation payments.
1968
Commission on Civil Rights finds Black farmers continue to face discrimination when seeking farm loans and assistance.
1970
Commission on Civil Rights finds “Discrimination persists in the operation of some Agricultural programs,” noting that “there are also no civil rights staff in the [USDA] field offices.”
1981
USDA report notes that Black and minority farmers are “disproportionately represented in poverty groups” and that these types of farms have less access to needed credit.
1990
House Committee on Government Operations report finds rampant discrimination in USDA loan programs.
1994
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Walter Dellinger files a memo detailing USDA’s authority to award monetary relief to Black farmers.
1995
General Accounting Office report finds widespread underrepresentation of minority farmers on county USDA committees.
1996
Consultant D.J. Miller report finds Black farmers do not get fair share of subsidies, disaster payments or loans.
1997
USDA publishes Civil Rights Action Team Report detailing a long history of racial bias and discrimination by the agency.
1999
John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, brings his mule, Struggle, to Washington, D.C., to protest USDA treatment of Black farmers.
1999
Settlement in Pigford v. USDA reached to pay Black farmers $1.03 billion. More than 22,000 Black farmers seek claims, but only 15,645 receive modest payments. More than 61,000 Black farmers file late claims, but only 2,585 are accepted.
2001
Commission on Civil Rights finds Black farmers wait four times longer than white farmers for farm loans.
2001
More than 14,000 USDA discrimination complaints are filed between 2001 and 2008, but USDA finds only one has merit.
2004
EWG and National Black Farmers Association issue report on USDA obstruction of Black farmer settlement.
2007
EWG and National Black Farmers Association issue report on subsidy gap between Black and white farmers.
2008
GAO report details failure to address civil rights claims properly at USDA’s Office of Civil Rights.
2008
Congress allows Black farmers originally denied payments from Pigford settlement to reopen their claims.
2009
USDA reopens discrimination cases and finds 3,800 of 14,000 have merit but that the statute of limitations has expired. Only 760 cases are addressed.
2010
Boyd drives a tractor around Washington, D.C., to meet with lawmakers to call for funding for USDA discrimination cases.
2010
South Carolina court rules against USDA in favor of Black farmers who faced discrimination.
2010
USDA Office of Civil Rights seeks extension of statutes of limitation for discrimination complaints but fails to persuade Congress.
2010
Congress secures another $1.25 billion in payments for Black farmers previously denied payments.
2011
The Pigford case’s monitor report highlights USDA’s failure to provide debt relief for Black farmers.
2019
GAO report details challenges faced by Black and minority farmers when seeking agricultural loans.
2019
During presidential campaign, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) releases detailed plan to address past and ongoing discrimination faced by Black farmers.
2020
Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduce Justice for Black Farmers Act.
