A 93-year-old grandmother is fighting a lawsuit from a property developer, who she believes are attempting to force her to sell her home, which has been in her family since the Civil War.
Josephine Wright, a native of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, is being sued by Bailey Point Investment Group for encroaching on their land and blocking their progress in developing a 147-unit complex next to her property.
The developers made offers to buy Wright’s property but when she refused they began a campaign of harassments that included slashing her tires, throwing trash onto her property and even hanging a snake from her window, she alleges.
‘I guess they figured I would become so unnerved with the harassment that I would say take it. But they don’t know me. I am here to fight for what I have,’ said Wright.
The property has been in Wright’s family since just after the Civil War.
Josephine Wright, a native of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina says she is being forced off her land
Wright is being supported by former state legislator Bakari Sellers
Her husband was a Gullah Geechee Islander whose relatives were escaped slaves freed by Union soldiers.
Bailey Point argue that they own part of the land Wright’s property sits on, even her porch.
Wright and her supportive neighbors say that in fact her property is 22 feet away from the Bailey Point border.
‘I don’t want to say anything that can be used against me, but I think they are unscrupulous and greedy and they want all the property they can get their hands on,’ said Wright.
‘I want to just keep my property and them to leave me alone’ she told a press conference on Thursday.
Wright has now instructed an attorney, Bluffton-based lawyer Roberts Vaux, to fight the case.
She has also received support from Former state legislator Bakari Sellers and the NAACP.
Sellers initially tried to open a dialogue with the development company regarding the situation but received no response.
‘I want to just keep my property and them to leave me alone’ Wright told reporters on Thursday
The property has been in Wright’s family since just after the Civil War
Wright’s husband was a Gullah Geechee Islander whose relatives were escaped slaves freed by Union soldiers and moved to the property
Bailey Point argue that they own part of the land Wright’s property sits on, even her porch
Bailey Point Investment Group for encroaching on their land and blocking their progress in developing acre, 147-unit plan next to Wright’s historic property
Wright’s granddaughter Charise Graves is supporting her 93-year-old grandmother in the fight to retain her property
‘Perhaps more disrespectful than a no is a non-answer,’ Sellers told reporters.
Wright’s situation is not unique, and many other Black landowners on the island have been pressured into selling their property over the years, according to the Island Packet.
Gullah landowners in particular have seen their share of island land diminished down to a fraction of private owners, despite being among the first to permanently settle there after the Civil War.
Sellers told reporters that ‘there is a concerted effort to take property from Black folk in our community, who have lived a great life.
‘This is about generational wealth, it’s very difficult to obtain. This is about land ownership, this is about heirs’ property, which we know we deal with a lot down here’ he explained.
Charise Graves, Wright’s granddaughter told reporters of the disruption her elderly grandmother has had to endure in the last year: ‘Unbeknownst to us, they just started tearing trees down.
‘Our house was shaking like it was an earthquake. They didn’t even have the decency to let us know that this was happening.’
The lawsuit is still in the discovery phase and Wright’s family have commissioned an independent survey to see if the alleged encroachment crosses the parcel boundary.
Wright maintains that her porch has around 22 feet of space between its end and the property line.
A Go Fund Me page set up to help Wright cover her legal expenses has raised more than $37,000 as of Saturday morning.
