In 1997, Timothy Pigford and hundreds of other Black farmers filed a class-action lawsuit to prove that the USDA discriminated against them between 1981 and 1996. The farmers submitted claims that the USDA denied farm loans and other assistance on the basis of race. In addition, the farmers reported that the USDA failed to follow up on complaints of discrimination that were submitted. The USDA implements programs and services on a county level. Yet in states like Georgia, where African Americans composed a majority of the population in agricultural areas, few African Americans sat on USDA committees. The USDA acknowledged that the claims had merit, and Black farmers were awarded $1 billion in the largest civil rights settlement in history. The majority of successful claimants received $50,000 and loan forgiveness. However, nearly a third of the claims were denied and many potential claims were never submitted. This led to a second settlement in 2010 from which an additional $1 billion was eventually distributed, though, once again, many potential claims went unfilled and many Black farmers have not received any compensation at all.

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