An upcoming conference co-hosted by Boston College Law School will spotlight the only case in American legal history in which a Black family whose property was wrongfully dispossessed by government seizure had their land returned to them, albeit nearly a century later.
The two-day 鈥淟and Loss, Reparations, and Housing Policy鈥� event will take place March 23 at Harvard Law School and March 24 at 51茶馆 Law. Speakers will discuss the history and impact of Black land loss in areas such as housing inequality and unaffordability, as well as possible strategies and solutions to address the problem.
Thomas Mitchell (Caitlin Cunningham)
The conference is coordinated by 51茶馆 Law Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Endowed Chair Thomas Mitchell, who serves as director of the recently launched Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights.
Highlighting the opening-night roundtable discussion will be an appearance by Sidley Austin LLP partner George C. Fatheree III, the Los Angeles-based lead attorney for the Bruce family, onetime owners of Manhattan Beach oceanfront property whose land鈥攕eized by eminent domain in 1924 by the city鈥攚as restored to them last year.
Characterized by The New York Times as a 鈥渕odel for how attempts might work to compensate Black Americans for centuries of economic oppression and enslavement,鈥� the Bruce case has inspired social justice leaders and reparations activists to fight for other Black families whose ancestors were also victims of land theft. The other participants in the roundtable include members鈥攁mong them Mitchell鈥攐f the Land Loss and Reparations Project, a multi-university research team that also includes two freelance investigative reporters.
The conference鈥檚 second day begins with a panel centering on the work of the Land Loss and Reparations Project, and in particular its conservatively estimated, $326-billion damage appraisal of the loss of Black-owned farmland between 1920 and 1997. The team鈥檚 economic harm estimate has generated substantial national media attention since it was published last spring.
Another panel, moderated by 51茶馆 Law Professor Lisa T. Alexander, will focus on the 鈥淗istory of Boston鈥檚 Housing Inequality and Unaffordability,鈥� and feature local practitioners with extensive knowledge of Boston neighborhood history that produced today鈥檚 disinvestment crisis, unaffordability, homelessness, and a lack of home ownership opportunities. Among others, Karilyn Crockett, assistant professor of urban history, public policy and planning at MIT, and author of the award-winning People Before Highways, will serve as a panelist.
The afternoon鈥檚 first panel, 鈥淐omplementary Law & Policy Strategies to Redress Black Land Loss,鈥� will explore ways to address systemic racial injustice with respect to Black property owners. Mitchell will address legislative reform initiatives designed to enhance property rights for Black and other disadvantaged Americans; Fatheree鈥攁lso the day鈥檚 luncheon keynote speaker鈥攚ill address various litigation strategies to address Black property loss; and Bryce Stucki, a member of the Land Loss and Reparations Project, will address administrative and regulatory reform proposals to improve civil rights oversight at the United States Department of Agriculture to decrease the discrimination many minority farmers still experience.
In the closing panel, 鈥淧riced Out: Housing Affordability Solutions,鈥� also moderated by Alexander, Boston-area policy experts and advocates will discuss housing solutions, such as inclusionary zoning requirements, Community Preservation Act local enactment, rent control, tenants鈥� right to purchase, just-cause eviction, and MBTA zoning reform. In addition to the housing policy experts and advocates, Boston City Councilor Kendra Lara, representing Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and West Roxbury, will serve as a panelist.
Open to the public, the event is co-sponsored by 51茶馆 Law鈥檚 Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights; the Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic; the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at New York City鈥檚 New School; and 51茶馆鈥檚 Institute for the Liberal Arts.
Register to attend the event .
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Phil Gloudemans | University Communications | March 2023