A southern California beachfront property that was taken from a Black couple through eminent domain a century ago and returned to their heirs last year will be sold back to Los Angeles county for nearly $20m, officials said on Tuesday. Bruce’s Beach heirs to sell land back to Los Angeles .
The sale comes as the state of California continues to consider sweeping financial reparations for the government’s treatment of Black Americans, including government confiscation of property, housing discrimination, over-policing and health disparities.
The heirs’ decision to sell what was once known as Bruce’s Beach was announced by Janice Hahn, chair of the county board of supervisors, and Steven Bradford, a state senator , who led local and state governmental efforts to undo the long-ago injustice. Bruce’s Beach heirs to sell land back to Los Angeles.
“This fight has always been about what is best for the Bruce family, and they feel what is best for them is selling this property back to the county for nearly $20m and finally rebuilding the generational wealth they were denied for nearly a century,” Hahn said in a statement.
The land in the city of Manhattan Beach was purchased in 1912 by Willa and Charles Bruce, who, defying opposition from white residents, built a small beachside resort for African Americans on Santa Monica Bay, near Los Angeles.
The Bruces suffered racist harassment from white neighbors and were targeted by the Ku Klux Klan, and the Manhattan Beach city council condemned the property in the 1920s and took it through eminent domain. The city did nothing with the property, and it was transferred to the state of California and then to Los Angeles county.
