The freed slaves should have been given land. The Lockeian idea of ownership comes out of mixing your labor with land or some other resource. There was logical reason to give ex-slaves some of the land they were working.
It still violated property rights on some level but that was the time to do it and there was a good rational for doing it.
But now 150 years later. It makes no sense.
I agree that it isn't as dumb as waiting 150 years and then doing a broad reparations program.