A historic, and huge, lie—that we investigated.

Revisiting “40 Acres and a Mule”   [Mother Jones + The Center for Investigative Reporting]( MoJo Reader, It’s good to be here. And it’s good to be writing to the MoJo community for the first time. I’m Al Letson, I’ve hosted Reveal since its inception, and I’ve admired Mother Jones’ journalism for as long as I can remember first coming across it. My journey to journalism and Reveal wasn’t a typical one. I grew up Black in the South, in Jacksonville, and felt injustice in a very real way. I’ve always been curious about the world around me, but when I watched or read the news, no one was talking to people like me. As I started to find my voice, I knew I wanted to speak out. First as a playwright and poet, driven to create work that has a strong social message but is enjoyable nonetheless. Then came American Idol. I was watching it with my daughter when we heard about a contest to find a new public radio host with big ideas. She said I should apply, and I ended up winning the dang thing. I entered both journalism and radio with my show State of the Re:Union before hooking up with the Reveal team for what I thought would be a temporary gig. But I liked the people I worked with, the stories we told were powerful, and here we are more than 10 years later. It's been awesome for all of us Revealers being so warmly welcomed to the Mother Jones family. It hasn’t been an easy road for us, and it feels like we finally have a more solid home. I’m saying all of this because I know we’re just now meeting—and I need to ask you to [support our investigative reporting with a much-needed donation]( if you can right now. I thought we should get to know each other before doing that: You can [drop me a line here]( and help with a (non-fundraising) click or two in the PS. Now about that historic, and huge, lie we investigated along with the Center for Public Integrity. It’s truly groundbreaking stuff, re-examining "40 Acres and a Mule" in a sweeping project called “[40 Acres and a Lie](." It’s the cover story in our magazine, which went up online last week, and the first Reveal episode [is live now](, with parts 2 and 3 coming up. I thought I knew the story of 40 Acres and a Mule. But the first time I heard the raw tape from the show, I was blown away. Listening to those rich Southern voices took me back to growing up in the South. “[40 Acres and a Lie](” is unlike anything I’ve ever read or heard before. It’s not just history you didn’t know, it’s the heartbreak behind the historical facts. The project takes the wound from America’s original sin and brings it into the present. It tells the story of what really happened after the Civil War. Namely, some Black people were given access to land. They built thriving communities, in places like Edisto and [Skidaway Islands](, and profitable businesses, only to have the land snatched away when the political winds changed. It is also the exact type of journalism we set out to do by bringing MoJo and Reveal together, and I sincerely hope you’ll [support us with a donation if you can](. Our first post-merger fundraising drive ends Saturday, and the team says we still have a quite large $175,000 gap [to fill]( by then. Over the course of two and a half years, a team of reporters, editors, and researchers deployed an innovative use of recently digitized Freedmen’s Bureau records to identify 1,250 Black men and women who had received land grant reparations as part of Union General William T. Sherman's 40 Acres and a Mule order. From there, the team conducted genealogical research to locate 41 living descendants of those men and women. For the first time, these living Black Americans were made aware of the specific land that had been given to and taken away from their ancestors. The result is a [six-part Mother Jones package](, a three-part Reveal series, and an innovative searchable land title database to open up access to this hard-to-find information for researchers, and anyone, to use. It’s truly groundbreaking. And I truly hope you’ll [show us you appreciate ambitious work like this with a donation]( if you can right now. This investigation is also a point of pride for me because it demonstrates the power of collaborative journalism. The merger of Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting created a true 360° nonprofit newsroom. From the print magazine to the web, radio, and TikTok—thanks to the merger—this investigation will find readers, listeners, and users everywhere. This project is also a testament to what happens when nonprofit newsrooms combine their investigative firepower. It would have been hard for any one of our newsrooms to tell this story alone; now, this untold story, this historic injustice, has been given a voice on every platform. Working closely with our colleagues at the Center for Public Integrity has been a highlight of my time at Reveal. I hope you’ll [dig into this important investigation]( to understand history in a new light. Setting the record straight makes the case for reparations specific and undeniable, and we’re long overdue to reset the national conversation about what is owed. As we say at Reveal, “there’s always more to the story.” Thanks for reading and for [supporting our team’s impressive and immersive journalism]( if you can right now. We really need to see [a huge spike in giving]( to come up with the money we need in these next four days, because we really need to tell more stories like “[40 Acres and a Lie](.” Sincerely, Al Letson Host, Reveal P.S. I’d love to know a bit about you: Have you listened to an episode of Reveal since Mother Jones has been hyping it? Click [here]( and let me know. Did you listen before? Click [here]( and let me know. Does something keep you from checking it out? Drop a line [here](. Just a quick click and anything else to share will help us see where people are at a few months in. [Donate](   [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755