75-210) was passed on July 22, 1937,[1][failed verification] and authorized acquisition by the federal government of damaged lands to rehabilitate and use them for various purposes.

Most importantly, however, the law authorized a modest credit program to assist tenant farmers to purchase land,[1] and it was the culmination of a long effort to secure legislation for their benefit.

In 1937, the federal government purchased distressed farmland for the Laura S. Walker National Park under a Federal land utilization program authorized by the Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act.

[2][3] The park was named for Waycross, Georgia, conservationist Laura S. Walker, in recognition of her work promoting forestry and other civic activities.

In February 1943, Roddie and Lucile Pridgett of Rankin County, Mississippi, "became the first Negro farm family in the United States to repay their 36-year farm purchase loan to the Farm Security Administration which they obtained under the provisions of the Bankhead–Jones Tenant Purchase Act."