A Georgia railroad company has filed a petition with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) to take over several plots of privately owned land using the state’s eminent domain law.
Should the move prove to be successful, multiple families in the poor, small community of Sparta, Georgia, will be disenfranchised.
The residents of the small city, located about 100 miles from Atlanta, are fighting to maintain control of their property, hoping to be victorious in this seemingly lopsided battle.
Though a tiny and poor town, the 1,300 citizens of Sparta are proud of their legacy.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the history of the city’s founding dates back to 1926, when a Black farmer named James Blair Smith purchased 600 acres of land in the area to grow various crops that would provide generational wealth for his family.
On the land, Blair Smith started a farming company that would cultivate and sell cotton, peas, butter beans, and corn, an extraordinary undertaking of independence during the racist era of Jim Crow. In his heyday, Blair Smith fought off efforts from whites who wanted to take over the land, according to The Guardian.
Now, his descendants and some whites in the area are picking up a similar fight, this time against a corporation.
In March 2023, the Sandersville Railroad Company made the first step to seize land by attempting to take advantage of the state’s eminent domain law. This is a last-ditch effort since residents have turned down offers to sell off their land for the railroad to build a 4.5-mile spur through the city.
In 2022, the railroad sent letters to several families — Black and white — about selling their properties.
Sandersville, the 125-year-old shortline freight railroad, wants to lay tracks through Sparta to connect directly to the nearby Hanson quarry. This would open up a way for tons of gravel and sand to be transported more easily and efficiently than by truck, the…
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