Explaining "40 Acres and A Mule" & Kendrick Lamar's Lines

Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show performance will be dissected and discussed for weeks if not months on end, due to the easter eggs and cultural references throughout. Ahead of the rapper dropping the “Not Like Us” diss track, Kendrick Lamar opened up with a verse referencing “40 Acres and a Mule” to introduce the song as it built to its epic opening.

Kendrick Lamar rapped the lines, “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music. They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence,” each stanza punctuated by the keyboard stabs from DJ Mustard’s production. The line has some wondering what “40 acres and a mule” means, and as this being Black History Month, we’re offering our brief explainer of the line. g

The “40 acres and a mule” is a phrase that refers to a section of Special Field Orders, No. 15, issued by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1865 after slavery was officially abolished via the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Given that the Union Army was poised to vanquish the Confederate soldiers in the U.S. Civil War, Gen. Sherman’s declaration to divvy up land owned by the Confederacy to formerly enslaved Black people was a promise that became upended by the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

With Andrew Johnson taking control of the White House in succession, the promise was dismissed as it was thought that the land would go back to the original owners. Historians note that this takeback began a long and systemically planned series of maneuvers to keep Black people from ascending to the same level as their white counterparts, even during the largely fruitful yet brief period of Reconstruction. Today, proponents of reparations for the descendants of Black slaves in America point to this broken promise as grounds to advance their cause.

A small handful of individuals did receive land under the special field order, especially in southeastern Virginia and parts of South Carolina, including coastal lands, but those efforts were met with roadblocks, eventually held up by President Johnson rescinding the offer.

Kendrick Lamar employed deeply symbolic messages throughout his performance: the American Flag-influenced backdrop and the inclusion of Samuel L. Jackson as a brash and outspoken Uncle Sam, along with the Compton native’s unrelenting focus on platforming Black music and culture in the set, was an indictment of recent political happenings.

Source: Chris Graythen / Getty

Naturally, there were some pundits, including those in right-wing media circles and even in the mainstream, who had little understanding of why Jackson as Uncle Sam was pivotal to the performance and harkened back to Lamar’s loving ode and dire warning to Black America via his acclaimed third studio album, To Pimp A Butterfly.

Given the themes of some of his past releases, it could be assumed that Lamar is a champion of reparations or, further, a champion of Black excellence and perseverance despite the broken promises of 40 Acres and a Mule. Regardless of where the intent truly lay, America, especially those who have endured despite being mostly frozen out from the dream of having our own, definitely took notice.

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Photo: Getty