A Black Couple's California Beachfront Land Was Stolen in the 1920s. Now Worth $75 Million, It's Bei

[Behind the Aegis]

A Black Couple’s California Beachfront Land Was Stolen in the 1920s. Now Worth $75 Million, It’s Being Returned to Their Descendants.

It’s taken decades longer than it should have, but the Bruce family is finally getting back what’s theirs.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill last week that will allow Los Angeles County to return a valuable stretch of SoCal beachfront real estate to the Black family it originally belonged to, reports the Los Angeles Times. The land, which was seized by the city of Manhattan Beach nearly a century ago, is believed to be worth around $75 million.

The bill confirms that the seizure of the land, on which Charles and Willa Bruce had built a thriving resort for Black families, was racially motivated and carried out under false pretenses. It also includes an urgency clause that allows the county to begin transferring ownership of the property to the Bruces’ descendants, who were represented at the signing by the couple’s great-great grandson Anthony, immediately.


California Governor Gavin Newsom and Anthony Bruce at the bill signing - Credit: AP Images© Provided by Robb Report California

The couple purchased the land that would become Bruce’s Beach in 1912 for $1,225. They would use it as the site for a resort—which included a lodge, dancehall and café—that quickly became a hit with Black beachgoers, according to CNN. Unfortunately, its success brought harassment from resentful white neighbors and the Ku Klux Klan, which tried to burn the resort down.

When that failed to drive the Bruces out, the city Manhattan Beach seized the property using eminent domain in 1924, claiming the land was needed for a park. The city paid just $14,125 for the land, well short of what the Bruces were asking. No park was ever built at the location and ownership of the land was transferred to the state in 1948 and then the county in 1995. Surrounded by houses that sell for $7 million and up, the land has been valued at approximately $75 million.

more..

I think Rachel did a story on this awhile back.

[Takket]

1. This happened in Tulsa too...

saw it in the race riot documentary History channel made. After the racists burned the thriving black section of town to the ground and slaughtered its inhabitants, the whites moved in and developed the land. No reparations were made for the valuable land that was just stolen.

[brush]

2. And that happened in dozens of other Black towns...

during that era (see map below). No one or their descendants were ever compensated. And don't get me started about the hundreds of years of stolen, unpaid labor during enslavement.

Reparations, anyone? They certainly are justified.

[ecstatic]

3. A good start. This happened all over the country.

When people talk about reparations, it's not just about slavery. There are many cases just like this where land and/or resources were stolen by a state or in some cases the US government.

[tulipsandroses]

4. We will never know how much wealth was stolen

It happened in so many places. It’s really rich when folks tell black folks to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. When black folks did just that, it was often stolen or destroyed. But hey CRT, it makes white kids feel bad.