“A group of black former residents of an area of McIntosh County, Georgia, known as Harris Neck has banded together in an attempt to reclaim the land taken from their families by eminent domain in July 1942. The former landowners and their descendants established a legal entity in 2006 called the Harris Neck Land Trust to work together in an effort to reestablish ownership of their family lands. ”
“The story behind the federal land grab and the fight of the former owners to reverse what many perceive as an injustice has a fascinating history behind it. The land that eventually came to be called Harris Neck was at one time the property of a slave-owning plantation owner named Margaret Ann Harris. In her last will and testament, Harris deeded the lands of her former plantation to her former slave, Robert Dellegall. Dellegall’s descendants have lived in the vicinity of Harris Neck ever since, and between 1865 and 1942 had grown to include 75 African American families.”
“World War II changed the lives of Harris Neck’s black families drastically, however. During the summer of 1942, two American tankers were sunk off the Georgia coast, presumably after being torpedoed by German submarines. The federal government decided that it was necessary to build a new Army Air Corps field in the area as a base for aerial surveillance of the coastline. When the federal advance team came to McIntosh County to search for a location, however, members of the county’s establishment recommended the land on Harris Neck for the base. This made little sense, since a parcel of land of equivalent size that was largely uninhabited lay nearby.”
Full storyof another wartime injustice by Warren Mass @http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/constitution/3924-black-landowners-fight-to-reclaim-land-taken-by-feds