Rufus Burgess arrived in California in the late 1840s and built a fortune during the Gold Rush. Having once been enslaved, Burgess was a freeman. On his
In 2021, Kavon Ward and Ashanti Ward created Where Is My Land. The organization started after Ward's success in reclaiming Bruce's Beach and they have just begun.
Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images(NEW YORK) In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce bought land southwest of Los Angeles in Manhattan Beach to turn into a resort for African Americans to relax and unwind. They named it Bruce's Beach. But nearby white property owners opposed Bruce's Beach. In 1924, the Manhattan Beach City Council voted to condemn Bruce's Beach and prohibited similar businesses in the area, with the city eventually using eminent domain to take the land and demolish the resort. Former public policy lobbyist Kavon Ward started Justice for Bruce's Beach on Juneteenth in 2020. The following year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation to return the land to the descendants of the Bruces. "We use advocacy, research and technology ART to try to reclaim stolen Black land and/or restitution for the families who have been the victims of land pillage," Ward told ABC News' Good Morning America. Vete
Black families want land returned, say it was stolen from ancestors recordnet.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from recordnet.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.