What did congress do to forty acres and a mule?

The phrase "forty acres and a mule" refers to a post-Civil War policy aimed at providing land to formerly enslaved individuals. In 1865, General William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field Orders No. 15, which allocated 40 acres of land and a mule to freed African American families. However, this promise was largely rescinded by Congress and later administrations, with land being returned to its original white owners, effectively nullifying the intended support for Black land ownership and economic independence. As a result, the initiative never materialized on a large scale, leaving many African Americans without the promised resources.