Administrative leave and the company says all staff will be retrained on proper child supervision. but martinez says, the damage is already done. it was the worst feeling to be seeing her through the glass. i don t want anyone else to go through this. reporter: megan fitzgerald, nbc news. and this black history month we ll take a look at the debate over land reparations. a growing number of states and local governments are looking at ways to return property that was taken from black families generations ago, but for many, it s not happening fast enough. aaron gilchrist reports. reporter: beneath the lush greenery of california s golden state park history is in dispute. this is where pioneers rushed to find gold including the family of jonathan. my great, great-grandfather was brought here as a slave. worked in the gold mines to pay for his freedom, he sent for his family. reporter: burgess says his ancestor
Rufus burgess bought property here including the emanuel ame church, the state acquired much of the land for the park from eminent domain in the mid-1900s. give us back our church, restore the land that we once had. reporter: burgess shared deeds and property record, proof he said that significant portions of this land are his. do you have an expectation, a real expectation that you ll own this church one day without dispute? yes, we will own this church, what s left of the land because like i said it s been chopped up. reporter: burgess showed me the building roof fuse owned as the town s blacksmith and where homes would have been along the south fork river. all through here there were remnants, structure, houses. ranches and orchards. that you believe belonged to your family. that i believe belonged to my family, yeah. reporter: the park system says the family did own several acres of land here but after years of conversation it says it hasn t been able to substance
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jonathan Burgess wanted to know more about his ancestor who established their family roots in California some 170 years ago: Rufus Burgess, who came to the state
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jonathan Burgess wanted to know more about his ancestor who established their family roots in California some 170 years ago: Rufus Burgess, who came to the state
SACRAMENTO, Calif. Jonathan Burgess wanted to know more about his ancestor who established their family roots in California some 170 years ago: Rufus Burgess, who came to the state as an enslaved man in the Gold Rush era. Over three years of research, the modern-day Burgess uncovered a history of entrepreneurial pioneer. His ancestor won his freedom, launched his own businesses in Northern .