"When they steal your land, they steal your future."

The Land Back movement, also known as #LandBack or Rematriation, calls for the return of Indigenous lands and the restoration of sovereignty. Emerging in the late 2010s, it unites Indigenous peoples and allies to reclaim political, cultural, and spiritual relationships with the land. In Canada and the U.S., Land Back has inspired protests, legal action, and even voluntary land transfers. More than property ownership, it represents decolonization and healing—reviving language, traditions, and ecological stewardship. As Hayden King of the Yellowhead Institute explains, Land Back means restoring balance and unity between people and the earth, ensuring future generations inherit both land and cultural strength (Monroe-Kane, 2021).

Monroe-Kane, C. (2021, December 18).  How the Land Back Movement is reclaiming land stolen from Indigenous people. Knowledge Book. 

Wikipedia contributors. (2025, October 4). Land Back. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 

U.S. expansion and wealth were built on stolen Native lands and the forced labor of enslaved Africans. Between 1778 and 1871, over 300 treaties with Native nations were broken, and policies like the Indian Removal and Dawes Acts displaced communities, stripping 99% of their land and severing cultural and economic ties. Tribes were often relocated hundreds of kilometers to less valuable, climate-vulnerable areas. Today, movements like #LandBack and legal challenges seek to restore land, sovereignty, and cultural balance, addressing ongoing economic and environmental injustices rooted in colonial dispossession (Wade, 2021).

Wade, L.,( 2021, October 28). Natives have lost 99% of their land in the United States. Science.org. 

A once-thriving Black middle class built on farm ownership was systematically destroyed during the 20th century, largely through USDA-backed discrimination. Federal policies funneled billions to white farmers while denying Black farmers essential loans and aid. Mississippi congressman Jamie Whitten, a staunch segregationist who controlled USDA funding for decades, ensured this imbalance persisted, earning the title “Permanent Secretary of Agriculture.” By the late 1900s, Black farmers had lost about 90–98% of the nearly 20 million acres they once owned. Legal loopholes, forced partition sales, intimidation, and violence all contributed to this “war waged by deed of title.” The Pigford v. Glickman case (1997) exposed decades of USDA racism, but its limited settlement failed to restore the stolen land or generational wealth that was erased (Rosenberg, 2022). 

Rosenberg, N. (2022, May 18).  How the Government Helped White Americans Steal Black Farmland. CHLPI.  

Over the past century, white farmers and landowners used laws and deceptive tactics to strip African Americans of nearly all their land. In 1900, Black Americans owned about 14 million acres; today, less than 2 million remain. Through heirs’ property laws, tax sales, and the Torrens Act, families were manipulated into losing land worth billions, erasing generations of Black Wealth.

This pattern of dispossession parallels the theft of Indigenous lands through broken treaties and violence. Both Black and Indigenous communities were targeted by systemic racism and white supremacy, losing not only land but also freedom, culture, and opportunity—losses still felt today (Nesbit,2022).

Nesbitt, T. (2022, May 6). Black Land Theft and the Racial Wealth Divide. Inequality.org. 

Common Future. (2022, February 28). The Legacy of Land Theft and its Impact on the BIPOC community Wealth. Medium.