A Black family in Snellville, Georgia, won a battle to keep Gwinnett County from seizing their land via eminent domain following an uproar from the community. Doretha Livsey, wife of the family patriarch, said the family received a letter on April 20 notifying her of the decision.
Livsey’s father-in-law Robert Livsey bought 100 acres of the suburban Atlanta property during the 1920s. The land includes Lake Sheryl and once was part of a 1,000-acre 19th century plantation that was known as “The Promised Land.”
“People everywhere…They come here to The Promised Land,” said Livsey. “My matriarchs and patriarchs worked hard to purchase this land.”
Livsey said her husband, Thomas Livsey, built several small businesses and homes on the property in 1960. The former plantation that enslaved his ancestors was turned into a community for African-Americans.
The family was shocked when Gwinnett County officials sent Mr. Livsey a letter earlier this month informing him that the county would seize two pieces of property from the family after he’d already sold the county 1.5 acres of the land in 2016, including the Maguire-Livsey House, or the “Big House,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The county reportedly said they planned to pay the family $700,000 for the properties to expand the museum and historical park already planned with the land previously sold to the county, complete with recreated slave housing and an antebellum look on the property. The couple currently lives across from the properties the county wanted to seize.
At the time, Mrs. Livey said she had no intention of selling more of her family’s land.
“We do not intend to sell,” said Doretha Livsey. “We have plans for the future, but the main thing is right now to hold onto our land and not to let anyone take it.”
One family member said she was concerned that the county had yet do anything with the property they already…
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