More than a hundred years ago, a Black couple bought a large piece of beachfront property and turned it into a resort for Black beachgoers during the Jim Crow era. The land was seized by Los Angeles city officials through eminent domain rules to make way for a public park.
Now, nearly a century after it was taken, the oceanfront land in Los Angeles is being returned.
A Los Angeles County commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to return the area in Manhattan Beach to the descendants of the married couple who bought the land in 1912.
The land is being transferred to descendants of the couple who bought the property, which the county will rent.
The land is reportedly worth $20 million.
It is believed this is the first case of seized property being returned to a Black family in Los Angeles County, and possibly all of California.
No word yet own how much the county will rent the property from the new owners for, or when the transfer will be complete.
More about the commission’s decision can be found here.
Opinion: This is quite possibly unprecedented in California. BNN posted a story last month about the billions of dollars Blacks have lost in land grabs due to racial discrimination. Hopefully this commission’s decision triggers a domino effect and families start exploring ways to regain what is rightfully there’s.
