Big Mas account Re-enforces what the land symbolises, the Logan family are very lucky to have their own land, for them it symbolises independence and freedom. Big Ma is very protective over the land and takes Harlan Grangers threats to get the land back very seriously. Big Ma starts telling Cassie of how her and Paul Edward got married and he bought the land. She says that Paul Edward was born into slavery and when he was two years old slavery was abolished. When Paul Edward was 14 his mother died so he left the plantation where he grew up and came to Vicksburg. Big Ma tells Cassie that despite having a good job as a carpenter Paul Edward wanted some land of his own to work on and then he discovered that Mr Hollenbeck was selling his land.
Edward Paul bought 200 acres of land from Mr Hollenbeck who was eager to sell it. Mr Hollenbeck had bought the land from the Grangers and now Harlan Granger wanted it back. The Grangers had sold the land because after the War they had no money and both northern and southern soldiers had ransacked their land. The Grangers had to sell two thousand acres of land to pay the taxes the owed and rebuild the land they didnt sell. Mr Hollenbeck had bought all two thousand acres of the land and then when the Grangers had made back the money that they had lost Mr Hollenbeck offered to sell the land back to them for a lot less than the land was worth but the Grangers didnt want to buy their land back even for such a small price. Mr Hollenbeck then made the land available for everyone to buy and thats when Paul Edward bought 200 of then 400 acres of land the Logans own.
Including Paul Edwards land Mr Hollenbeck had sold one thousand acres to small farmers and he sold the other thousand t Charles Jamieson. Charles Jamieson son Wade Jamieson sold another 200 acres to the Logans when he left to study law. When Harlan Granger took over from his father he wanted to get back every acre of land that his father had sold but Paul Edward and Charles Jamieson refused to sell back the land. Then when Charles Jamieson died, Wade Jamieson decided to leave and he sold 200 acres of land to Paul Edward and the rest to Harlan Granger. Wade Jamieson decided to only sell 800 acres of land to Harlan Granger and he sold 200 to Paul Edward, even though if he had sold all one thousand acres to Harlan Granger he wouldve got more money.
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