Displaced Black Landowners Fight to Reclaim Harris Neck, Ga., Land Taken Away by Federal Government to Build Air Force Base During WWII

Displaced black landowners fight to reclaim Harris Neck, Ga., land, now a wild-life refuge, taken by the U.S. government to build Air Force base during World War II.

Have you ever heard of Harris Neck, GA? Me neither, but I came across an interesting article in the New York Times, that states displaced black landowners are fighting to reclaim their land. According to the NY Times, in 1942, Harris Neck, was a thriving community of black landowners, who hunted, farmed and gathered oysters. The federal government swooned in and took the land to build an airstrip. Funny how the only land they could find to build this airstrip in this area was land owned by blacks. The Harris Neck Land Trust, comprised of the former residents, their families and some white families who owned land in the area but did not live there, is asking Congress to return the land. The Fish and Wildlife Service is being adamant in any prospect of returning the land to the rightful owners. They claim the land is a crucial part of the national refuge system. Right. Give the people back their land. This is an injustice and has racial undertones.

On its face, the quest of the former residents pits the goal of environmental conservation against that of righting a historical injustice. But it is also a conflict about two ways of life — one that tries to protect natural resources from human encroachment, the other demonstrating that humans can live in harmony with nature....

Harris Neck was deeded by a plantation owner to a former slave in 1865. Black families who settled there built houses and boats and started crab and oyster factories. But the community, many descendants suspect, was too independent for the comfort of McIntosh County’s whites....

During World War II, when federal officials were looking for a site for an Air Force base, the county’s white political leaders led them past thousands of uninhabited acres to Harris Neck. The government condemned the land and ordered the families to clear out with the promise, some residents recall, that they could come back after the war. Blacks received an average of $26.90 per acre for the land, while whites received $37.31, according to a 1985 federal report. In 1962, the wildlife refuge was established. Source: New York Times

There is no reason why the black landowners and their descendants shouldn't be given their land back. I am amazed that, of all the places in Georgia, the government chose to seize the land of blacks, who started out with so little in this country, at that time.

Read more: Black Landowners Fight to Reclaim Georgia Home | New York Times