Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Please click here to update your account with a username and password.

Hello. Some features on this site require registration. Please click here to register for free.

Hello and thank you for registering. Please complete the process by verifying your email address. If you can't find the email you can resend it here.

Hello. Some features on this site require a subscription. Please click here to get full access and no ads for $1.99 or less per month.

California's earliest Black settlers bought land only for it to be stolen. Their descendants want it back.

It had been nine months since Yolanda Tylu Owens unearthed her ancestors’ history by researching her family tree. But one evening, quietly sitting at the foot of her bed in her home in Sacramento, California, an idea flashed in her mind.

“It was like my ancestors spoke to me,” Owens said. “It was so out of the blue. But it was clear: I should search to see if my great-great-great-grandfather had any land.”

She scrambled for her laptop. Within minutes, she had to sit back in her chair to process what she had learned.

“It was there, plain as day,” Owens said. “There were four deeds in his name. He owned land.”

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 13June 3, 2023 6:29 PM

Good luck with that!

by Anonymousreply 1June 3, 2023 3:49 PM

Blah blah blah Spaniards blah blah bah Indians.

Next.

by Anonymousreply 2June 3, 2023 3:51 PM

You forgot" Blah blah blah Black slaves. blah blah blah Japanese Americans circa Dec. 7th, 1941"

GOOD LUCK WITH ALL THAT!!

by Anonymousreply 3June 3, 2023 4:17 PM

My father's ancestors had land stolen from them in WWII. Never gonna get it back. Shit happens. You can't always get what you want.

by Anonymousreply 4June 3, 2023 4:32 PM

It’s already happened.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 5June 3, 2023 4:45 PM

Nice try. Still trying to find ways of justifying a grift and a handout.

by Anonymousreply 6June 3, 2023 4:53 PM

"Blah blah blah n-----s, blah blah blah don't care."

by Anonymousreply 7June 3, 2023 5:03 PM

I'm quite the boring asshole.

by Anonymousreply 8June 3, 2023 5:08 PM

Blah, blah, blah... except the courts do, in fact, care about real estate, which is why we have a wholly different set of laws and even consider land a unique form of property subject to extensive documentation and record keeping.

by Anonymousreply 9June 3, 2023 5:23 PM

The lawyer doing the title abstract has his work cut out for him.You've got generations of good faith purchasers, the blacks in question, the Spanish dons who possessed the land by Royal Patent from the King of Spain, conquistador Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo and his soldiers who claimed California from the Aztecs for the King, the dozens of Indian tribes the Aztecs conquered, and all the earlier Indian tribes the later tribes exterminated.all the way back 137,000 years.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 10June 3, 2023 5:32 PM

Do you honestly think any of these people have actually ever picked up a history book? lol

by Anonymousreply 11June 3, 2023 5:34 PM

I’m surprised at the comments in this thread. It sounds like the people in the article have done significant research and may have credible claims. The information isn’t compete, but there are details that go beyond “before so-and-so died, they said great grandpa said that his land was stolen.” Someone purchased land for $1500. Then it was confiscated due to an alleged debt of $400. Then it was purchased at auction and immediately re-sold to a government official who was involved in the auction? And an original deed is in the descendant’s possession? That’s not a vague fairy tale.

I’m white, but if I had any inkling that land had been illegally taken from an ancestor of mine and there might be a way to seek compensation, I’d be all over it. That’s not a grift.

In one of the cases, it’s mentioned that the land was taken by eminent domain. Seems like that could be a real can of worms. Plenty of white people have been forced to sell property. That’s not illegal. But is it likely that black property owners were viewed as easier targets when it can to acquiring land for public use? Well, yeah. But hard to prove. But the Bruce family’s land was taken under eminent domain, so there is already precedent.

by Anonymousreply 12June 3, 2023 6:00 PM

When communism was overthrown in Czechoslovakia, some families got restitution by the good graces of President Havel. An American man inherited a brewery and castle and other holdings seized under the nazis and communists.

If the cases in this article are provable, good for these families. It sounds like documentation can suddenly turn spotty, complicating things.

The families listed showed substantial achievements in hostile times. In one family it appears the ancestor had impressive holdings but once defaulted on a loan. The assertion by those in favor seems to be that foul play abounded then so that could be bogus.

Time will tell if Native Americans try to reclaim this land too.

by Anonymousreply 13June 3, 2023 6:29 PM
Loading
Need more help? Click Here.

Yes indeed, we too use "cookies." Take a look at our privacy/terms or if you just want to see the damn site without all this bureaucratic nonsense, click ACCEPT. Otherwise, you'll just have to find some other site for your pointless bitchery needs.

×

Become a contributor - post when you want with no ads!