Final answer:
The Southern Homestead Act failed to provide adequate land to former slaves due to political actions returning lands to white landowners, leading to a system where freedmen were largely forced to become sharecroppers or wage laborers, perpetuating poverty and hindering their ability to gain economic independence.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Southern Homestead Act failed to provide land for former slaves due to a myriad of economic, political, and social challenges. Post-Civil War policies, while initially promising freedmen land reform, were reversed by President Johnson's actions in 1865 that ordered the return of lands to white landowners, significantly undermining the efforts to redistribute land in the South. Freedmen faced harsh conditions, including a lack of resources and the lingering Southern opposition to black landownership, which left many former slaves with no option but to become sharecroppers or wage laborers.
Efforts by the Freedmen's Bureau to lease and provide titles to lands to freed people were stymied, and initial hopes from policies like General Sherman's directive for land grants in the Sea Islands were dashed as political opposition prevailed. By 1867, such experiments had largely ended, and the land grants that did exist eventually dwindled, leading communities into poverty. The struggle for land ownership by former slaves highlights the enormous difficulties they faced during Reconstruction and the government's inability to follow through on promises of land redistribution.