Hector Rivers Sr. was born into slavery on the Sea Islands of South Carolina, but in 1883, two decades after the Emancipation Proclamation, he was free and was able to buy what became 100 acres from his former enslaver’s widow, Susan B.V. Hay. Though he had little capital, the freed Black community where he lived pooled their meager savings to help one another buy land, and Rivers received an additional loan from Hay at 10 percent interest, which allowed him to afford the $250 farm. Rivers