‘Jim Crow’ Land Ownership Spurs Black Farmers’ Appeals to Biden
- ‘Land-rich, cash poor’ heirs crippled by legal title woes
- Senate bill would confront inequities Black farmers face
Acie Johnson is a legal client of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation. The Center cleared his title (from Heirs’ Property) and put his house in order. Johnson was able to refinance his loan and settle the future of his house in his will. He stands in front of his church, the Brick Baptist Church on St. Helena Island, S.C.
Photo from the Center’s collection.
Joe Hamilton, who manages a 26-acre tree farm in South Carolina, knows first hand how complex it can be to own land: His is among many Black, Appalachian, Native American, and Hispanic families to grapple with heirs’ property—a type of collective ownership passed down, often to multiple relatives, without a will.
The 68-year-old spent three years tracing his family tree to identify the other part-owners of his family land, sorting through documents, cemeteries, and Bibles. The land originally belonged to his great-grandfather, a freed slave who received almost 888 acres from a former slave owner.