Developers have Black families fighting to maintain property and history

KIFI

Published August 11, 2023 11:14 PM

By JAMES POLLARD
Associated Press/Report for America

PHILLIPS COMMUNITY, S.C. (AP) — 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 is slipping away.

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