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After inheriting ancestral land, these Black families are defying the odds to keep it (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

9 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Predatory developers often target Black families whose generational land lacks clear ownership. Now, more families are securing deeds to keep their land and create real wealth.

A street sign on a dirt road leading up to a large plot of land in Nakina, North Carolina, lets you know you’re traveling down Roland Smith Lane. On that land sits a large white house — the only house standing on the 60-acre plot — that has become a vacation home for several generations of the Smith family to gather at.

The Smiths say they have done everything right to hold on to their land — and they have no intention of selling. Still, Evelyn S. Booker, who inherited the land from their mother, Esther Smith Morse, says she and her seven siblings receive letters and texts weekly from developers with offers to buy.

“We’ve established that if anyone wants to sell their property, they will do so to a sibling and not an outsider,” Booker said.

By 1910, Black Americans like Smith’s ancestors had acquired a cumulative 16 million acres of rural land, according to the American Economic Association. But over the century that followed, 90% of that land was lost because of threats, violent force or systematic rejection from programs offered to white landowners to help keep land through economic hardships like the Great Depression.

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[–] pan_troglodytes 6 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I generally think of "ancestral lands" as something inhabited for thousands of years, not 114 years

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago

'Generational land,' as used in the sub-headline, definitely sounds more accurate.

And good for this family telling developers to fuck off.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What could be the reason for that? I wonder why black people don't own much land from before 160 years ago?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Because they’re not native to the Americas?

Ancestral land would be like First Nations lands.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yet there are white people who do own land from before 160 years ago.

Oh, right, slavery.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Yes but the point being made all throughout this thread is that even that white people land from >160 years ago would not be considered "ancestral".

Yes, you're trying to point out the role that slavery has in denying black people property. It's a completely different point than was being made though, and could have been it's own comment thread instead of a misguided response to a comment about the inappropriateness of the word "ancestral" here.

Sheesh. Trying to have a conversation with the well ackshually crowd around is rough!

[–] [email protected] -1 points 10 months ago

I wonder why black people don't own much land from before 160 years ago?

There are more recent reasons than native Americans explaining why black people don't own more land.

I agree with the sentiment native American land being ancestral as opposed to "white" owned land.

[–] SheeEttin 1 points 10 months ago

Yeah, I'd like to hear what the Waccamaw, Lumbee, and Catawba people think of that.