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Gullah Geechee people set out to keep their family land. Unclear titles and surging taxes are pushing them out

10 May 2026 at 11:00

Property disputes, predatory developers and surging sea levels are putting the historic Black community at risk

On Arthur Champen’s half-acre property in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, a thicket of southern live oaks, palmettos and pine trees muffle the roar of cars on nearby highway 278. His haint blue house, lightened by the sun, sits on stilts to protect it from flooding that comes with the high tide. During the spring, it is common for the marshland adjacent to his land to turn into a muddy soup. “Other than the cars,” Champen, 81, said, “you hear how peaceful it is?”

About a decade ago, Champen’s family nearly lost the grassy marshland next door that their family bought several generations ago.

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© Photograph: Joshua Parks/The Guardian

© Photograph: Joshua Parks/The Guardian

© Photograph: Joshua Parks/The Guardian

Guardian owner heralds next phase in Legacies of Enslavement restorative justice plan

21 April 2026 at 09:00

Scott Trust identifies priorities for communities in Jamaica and US Sea Islands with plans to allocate millions of pounds

We asked what repairing the harm of enslavement would look like. This is what we found

The owner of the Guardian has announced the next phase of its 10-year restorative justice plan to address and atone for the news organisation’s historical links to transatlantic enslavement.

The Scott Trust launched the Legacies of Enslavement programme in 2023, acknowledging that the founder of the Manchester Guardian, and his backers, profited from the enslavement of African people in Jamaica and the US.

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© Illustration: Ngadi Smart/The Guardian

© Illustration: Ngadi Smart/The Guardian

© Illustration: Ngadi Smart/The Guardian

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