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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Adria R Walker

South Carolina woman posthumously wins settlement over Black ancestral land

close up of an older woman in a white blouse
Josephine Wright in June 2023. She died aged 94 in 2024, having spent her last days fighting to protect her family’s ancestral home. Photograph: James Pollard/AP

Josephine Wright, a Hilton Head Island resident who died this year aged 94, spent her last days fighting to protect her family’s ancestral South Carolina home from being taken by developers. Now, two months after her death, Wright’s fight is finally over: Bailey Point Investment, the construction company that was vying for her land, has settled with Wright’s family members after it initially sued for ownership early last year.

The settlement concedes that the Wright family owns the property in the middle of Bailey Point’s planned 29-acre neighborhood, according to South Carolina Public Radio. The company cannot contact the Wright family about purchasing the land, and there will be a privacy fence erected between the Wright family’s land and the new construction.

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