This publication discusses the issue of black owned rural land decline. Since the turn of the century, it is estimated that blacks have lost in excess of 9,000,000 acres of rural land. The impact of this loss is tremendous for blacks, both on the economic and psychological levels. Developing strategies to arrest the rapid decline of black owned rural real estate is a high priority on the agenda of concern of the black community. It is noted that landownership is important because it provides an economic base for socio-psychological release and/or identification. In a capitalistic society, landownership is linked with permanence and political power. Black land capable of being usefully developed or converted into capital, constitutes an immensely valuable political resource. If used correctly, a black land base could be critical to the political base in the black community. The absence of such a base can have a crippling effect on the mobilization potential of the black community in the political process. Among the various, social, political, and economic implications of black rural land loss which are discussed in this publication are: (1) the Emergency Land Fund, (2) attitudes of blacks toward rural land, (3) institutional procedures for resolving tax delinquency in the south, and (4) a case study of black rural land loss in Tennessee. (Author/AM)