Charleston’s future lies in eliminating the wealth gap for African Americans

Most heirs’ property in the Lowcountry is land that was acquired by African Americans after emancipation.

Much of this land has been passed down through the generations without a will so that the land is owned “in common” by multiple heirs. This unstable form of ownership puts this land at high risk for loss because any heir can sell their ownership interest to another who can force a sale of the entire property in the court.

Property matters to people.

It’s far more than just a parcel of land. It can be a window to the past that tells the story of a family, a community, or a way of life.

Knowing about your family’s history and culture creates a sense of place and belonging.

The loss of heirs’ property has impact on the community, not just one family.

A bright future for Charleston would need to include everyone, together, and it hasn’t always been that way obviously.

To look forward we cannot forget the past. Diversity and inclusion should be at the forefront of our planning and preparation.

Overcoming past mistrust will be the key to any progress forward.

That’s where the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation comes in.

The center’s mission from day one has been to protect heir’s property and promote the sustainable use of land to provide increased economic benefit to historically under-served families through legal and forestry education and services.

At the heart of the Center’s work is the building of trust in the African American community where distrust and fear of authority and the legal system is still pervasive.

Once trust is established, these communities are open to receiving the education that the center provides.

Across that bridge of trust, the center has seen first-hand how knowledge increases confidence, self-determination, better decision-making, and an ability to act to positively change a family’s circumstances.

We have been very successful with our mission not only here in Charleston, but in the 22 counties we serve in South Carolina.

Underserved vulnerable landowners have involuntarily lost their family property through contested claims, unaffordable high transaction costs, and forced sales to speculators, and outright fraud.

Preserving inter-generational family wealth is key in helping to close racial wealth gaps.

Whether rural or urban, most family wealth is based on their largest assets, their homes. Heirs’ property disproportionately affects people of color, partly due to racial gaps in estate planning that transcend education.

Poor folks just don’t sit around the kitchen table and talk about estate planning.

It’s unfortunate, but nonetheless true. Inheritance and land use can be a difficult conversation to have. Often, these people have been taken advantage of.

So often in our work we hear people say they are tired of working for their land.

We knew that once those families received clear title to their properties, we needed to reverse that statement, so that the land would finally be working for them.

Our forestry program and our efforts in helping make the land work for the families who own it, have helped create a landowner movement that has the power to unleash the cultural and natural resources of land in these marginalized communities that creates generational family wealth as well as ecological restoration.

It has been the Center for Heir’s Property Preservation’s mission and calling to help families learn how to take care of their land and property.

It is about the history, the family dynamics, the opportunity to help people and their communities now, as well as future generations.

The continued juggernaut of development in Charleston, combined with a system of antiquated property laws, not to mention the impending threat of climate change, has cruelly stacked the odds against the underserved.

They pay a higher price for all these issues and more.

The playing field must be evened to propel Charleston into a future we can all be proud of and share in, together.

Dr. Jennie L. Stephens leads the Center for Heir’s Property Preservation.