$1.25 Billion Settlement Reached with Black Farmers over Discrimination

Washington, DC: A long-standing class action between Black farmers and the US government reached a $1.25 billion settlement agreement Thursday, making history.

The Pigford lawsuit was filed in 1997 and alleged that the African American farmers were deliberately excluded from government programs because of racism and treated unfairly with respect to lending practices between 1987 and 1997.

Of the $1.25 billion offered by the government, $100 million was appropriated by Congress in a bill in 2008. The remaining $1.15 billion is now pending congressional approval as part of an Obama request in the 2010 budget.