The Homestead Act allowed African Americans, persecuted and famine-struck immigrants, and even women a chance to seek freedom and a better life in the West. ... And ironically, in the search for freedom, homesteaders – and speculators – encroached on Native American territory, frequently in aggressive and bloody fashion. Of course, there were those who took advantage of homesteading. According to the National Archives, a limited number of farmers and laborers could afford to build a farm, which included access to tools, crops, livestock and more.