A California family is finally receiving reparations after a beachfront resort property was taken from them by the government nearly 100 years ago. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill to return land to the descendants of a Black couple, Willa and Charles Bruce, that was taken from them in the city of Manhattan Beach, California in 1924. Newsom visited the area where the Bruces’ resort was once located to sign the new law in front of Bruce family members, the media and others who raised awareness of how these Black Californians were forced off the valuable beachfront property.
Bruce’s Beach was a popular resort for Black families in California during the racist Jim Crow era when other local beaches did not permit Black beachgoers. According to CNN, the Bruces purchased the land for $1,225 in 1912, and built several facilities, including a cafe and changing rooms. However, the owners and visitors faced constant harassment from racists and the Ku Klux Klan who slashed the visitors’ tires and threatened their lives. When the scare tactics failed, the city of Manhattan Beach declared imminent domain on the property in 1924 and only gave the Bruces $14,125. They both died within five years after the swindle when the city claimed they wanted their land for a park (for white people).
Today, the property is now a park and a lifeguard training facility and was transferred to to Los Angeles County in 1995. The two lots are worth approximately $75 million in total, officials confirmed to CNN.
“If the Bruces had been allowed to keep the property that they purchased, the impact that would have had on generations of not only Bruce family descendants but the other African Americans who began to buy parcels surrounding Bruce’s Beach,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell to the press.
California Sen. Steve Bradford who represents a southern L.A. district that borders Manhattan Beach told reporters that the Bruces could have been an example of generational wealth had their property not been stolen.
“I said let’s look at the Gettys, let’s look at the Rockefellers, let’s look at the Forbes. That’s what generational wealth could have looked like for the Bruce family. But they were denied that because of the racist behavior of this city,” he told reporters.
