This is a word of podcasts from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson. After decades,

Bruce's beach in California was returned to a black family that had been robbed of their land.

There are thousands of stories of this kind of theft, where landowners and descendants

are still waiting for justice. There have been tons of examples of urban properties,

rural properties, oceanfront properties taken. African-American property rights and reparations,

coming up on a word with me, Jason Johnson. Stay with us.

Welcome to a word of podcasts about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host,

Jason Johnson. Bruce's beach, a stretch of oceanfront land that had been in a

wastes for African-Americans in early 1900s, was snatched from owners Willa and Charles Bruce

by California officials in 1924. Even though the property featured a thriving resort,

the city of Manhattan Beach seized the property by imminent domain after races, including

the Ku Klux Klan, targeted the black family that owned it, setting fires, and threatening

the owners and visitors with violence. But now, after nearly a century, the land is back in the

hands of the Bruce family. That was the voice of Anthony Bruce, a descendant of the Bruce family.

California Governor Gavin Newsome recently signed legislation giving the land back to descendants

of Charles and Willa Bruce. This is a rare example of the state government stepping in to write

this historic and racist wrong. Since the end of slavery, millions of acres of land,

once owned by African-Americans, has been taken through violence, fraud, and legal manipulation,

often backed up by more violence. Joining us to talk more about this is Thomas Wilson Mitchell.

He's a law professor at Texas A&M University, and he earned a MacArthur Genius grant for his work

on protecting African-American lands from theft. Professor Thomas Mitchell joins us now. Welcome to a

word. Good afternoon. Pleasure to be here. For our listeners who aren't familiar with the story,

...