Black Land Loss Narrative Archive Project

08/04/2026

https://www.afro.com/politics/black-community-land-ownership-a65b3a00/

By Rev. Dr. Heber Brown III I often look to our ancestors to guide my service to the Black community today. They connect me to the movement that has been and is...

07/12/2026

Black Land Theft: How Systemic Racism Destroyed Generational Wealth

From Black farmers and Bruce’s Beach to Gullah-Geechee heirs’ property, discriminatory laws, government seizures, and corporate development have stripped Black families of millions of acres—and the wealth those lands could have created.

07/02/2026

https://racism.org/articles/basic-needs/propertyland/13503-violent-white-exclusionary-destruction

Abstract Eric J. Miller, Violent White Exclusionary Destruction of Black Property Is a Public Nuisance: The Tulsa Race Massacre and Beyond, 94 University of Cincinnati Law Review 1007 (2026) (456 footnotes). (Full Document) Lessie Evelyn Benningfield Randle, affectionately known as Mother Randle, is...

06/19/2026

Juneteenth reminds us that freedom is not just about emancipation. It’s also about the ability to build, protect, and pass down a legacy.
For generations, Black families acquired land as a pathway to opportunity, only to face dispossession through discrimination, violence, and unjust policies.
Today, we honor those families by preserving their stories. Every narrative in our archive helps tell a fuller story of Black freedom, resilience, and the ongoing struggle to hold onto what was earned.
This Juneteenth, we celebrate freedom and commit to remembering the stories that shaped it.
ShareYourStory

06/01/2026

We are looking for stories of Black land loss. If you or someone you know has experienced land loss, please message us.

In yet another chapter of the long, painful history of Black land dispossession in America, the Georgia Court of Appeals has sanctioned what many view as the theft of generational Black-owned land in Sparta, Georgia. On Wednesday, the court upheld a lower court's ruling allowing Sandersville Railroa...

06/01/2026

The Tulsa Race Massacre occurred between May 31 and June 1, 1921, when a white mob violently attacked the prosperous African American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, historically known as "Black Wall Street".
Over 35 square blocks were burned, leaving up to 300 people dead and thousands homeless.

The violence was ignited on May 30, 1921, after Dick Roland, a young Black shoe shiner, was accused of assaulting Sarah Paige, a white elevator operator in a downtown building.

Although the encounter was likely a misunderstanding and local police planned to dismiss the charges, inflammatory reports in the Tulsa Tribune newspaper incensed the local white community.

On the evening of May 31, an armed group of Black men, many of whom were World War I veterans went to the Tulsa courthouse to protect Roland from a lynch mob. A standoff ensued, shots were fired, and the vastly outnumbered Black men retreated to the Greenwood neighborhood.

Throughout the night and into the next day, armed mobs of white residents ,some deputized and armed by local officials invaded Greenwood. They looted, burned, and destroyed more than 1,400 Black-owned homes and businesses. Notably, rioters even utilized private airplanes to drop incendiary bombs on the neighborhood.

The Oklahoma governor subsequently declared martial law, and the National Guard arrived, detaining thousands of surviving Black residents in internment camps.

Contemporary news reports downplayed the event, and the tragic destruction was largely omitted from American history books for decades.

While exact casualty numbers were heavily obscured at the time, historians estimate that between 50 and 300 Black residents were killed.

04/29/2026

On June 30, 1829, officials in Cincinnati, Ohio, issued a notice requiring Black residents to adhere to laws passed in 1804 and 1807 aimed at preventing “fugitive slaves” and freed Black people from settling in Ohio, forcing hundreds of Black people to flee.

The 1804 law required every Black person in Ohio to obtain proof of freedom and to register with the clerk’s office in his or her county of residence. It also prohibited employers from hiring a Black person without proof of freedom, imposed a fine on those who hid "fugitive slaves," and provided to any person asserting “a legal claim” to a Black person a procedure for “retaking and possessing his or her Black or mulatto servant.” The 1807 amendments to the law required Black people seeking residence in Cincinnati to post $500 bond guaranteed by two white men.

SOURCE: EJI.org

http://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/jun/30

02/24/2026

Section 14: How Land-Use and Legacy Collided in Palm Springs
Redevelopment and one family’s fight reshaped a city. By our founder, George Fatheree:

Redevelopment and one family’s fight reshaped a city.

02/14/2026

Join us for Archiving Land, Love & (Land) Loss in Black LA, a two-part story circle series in Leimert Park.

02/04/2026

Heir's Property Laws: The Obscure Law Destroying Black Homeownership in America

Predatory developers are using “Heir’s Property” laws to force sales of Black Americans’ homes, then buy them up cheap. We need a systematic change in policy to stop them.