Page 3 - Caesar Jones News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Along the coastal South, Black property owners find themselves embroiled in disputes with investors and their own relatives.

PHILLIPS COMMUNITY- The Rev. Elijah Smalls Jr. once grew okra, butter beans and other vegetables in the neighborhood where his family has lived near the South Carolina coast since not long after the Civil War. That was before new …

The clamor for these lands is so feverish that even people with clear titles remain vulnerable. James calls it “the next frontier in preserving African American property.”

All along the South Carolina coast, land owned by the descendants of enslaved people is being targeted by developers looking to make money on vacation getaways and new homes.

PHILLIPS COMMUNITY — All along the South Carolina coast, developers of new homes and vacation getaways are targeting properties owned by the descendants of enslaved people. From Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head, Black landowners who inherited property have been outmatched in disputes with investors seeking to capitalize on rising property values. State legislation has made it harder for developers to take advantages. But skyrocketing tax assessments are raising pressures to sell, and that's threatening to erase historic Black communities. Elderly residents are clinging to an inheritance that ...