Procession of Charleston Reparations Task Force as they head into meeting with representatives of Middleton Plantation, Wednesday, April 22, 2026
On April 22, 2026, members of the Charleston Reparations Taskforce (CRT), along with Gullah Geechee community members - direct descendants of West African peoples who were kidnapped and enslaved under the plantation system that propped Charleston up to become the wealthiest city at the founding of this nation - confronted representatives of Middleton Plantation to demand the transfer of over 7,000 acres of former plantation land in the area (including Boone Hall and Magnolia Plantation). The coalition is calling for the establishment of a Gullah Geechee Reparations Reservation, land to be held in permanent stewardship by Gullah Geechee people.
These lands are sites of some of the cruelest forms of extraction, exploitation and violence known in modern history. From the 17th century through the eras of sharecropping and phosphate mining, immense wealth was extracted through stolen labor and stolen lives. That harm did not end with emancipation. It continues to shape present-day conditions while plantations such as Middleton, Magnolia, and Boone Hall generate millions of dollars annually through tourism, agriculture, and real estate. Many descendants of those who were enslaved on these lands face ongoing displacement and exclusion across the region.
The ceding of this land represents a transformative opportunity for the region. Under Gullah Geechee stewardship, over 7,000 acres could allow for community-controlled economic development while supporting families facing displacement through fixed, affordable housing. It creates the conditions for intergenerational teaching, cultural preservation, and localized, sustainable agriculture to ensure families have access to nutrient dense foods. Ultimately, what is to be done on the land will be determined by the Gullah Geechee community, ensuring that development remains in their hands.
Of course, this demand is made with acknowledgment that these lands are the ancestral homelands of Indigenous peoples who stewarded this region long before colonization, and whose dispossession is foundational to the systems of extraction that followed.
The coalition is calling on Middleton Plantation, Magnolia Plantation, and Boone Hall to respond within 40 days of receipt and to enter into formal dialogue toward land transfer and reparative justice. This action asserts that acknowledgment alone is insufficient. Justice requires material repair, including the transfer of land and stewardship to the descendants of those who built this region under bondage and continue to fight to remain resiliently rooted.
Marcus McDonald, a lead organizer of Charleston Black Lives Matter and member of the task force shares, “We are facing an existential threat. At the current rate of land loss and displacement, it is clear that Gullah Geechee people are being ethnically cleansed from the lands in which we built.” He adds, “I am a direct descendant of enslaved people who labored at Boone Hall Plantation, and it’s time to move past symbolic gestures. The transfer of this land to Gullah Geechee stewardship is a true step towards repair for the generations of violence and erasure of our contributions. ”