It’s been 60 years since the city of Athens, Georgia utilized eminent domain to evict Black families from their neighborhood in the 1960s, replacing their homes with University of Georgia dorms and parking lots. 

Despite the passage of time, the grief persists, and a group of former residents and descendants is urging the university to apologize for the land theft and establish a Linnentown memorial, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

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Eminent domain is the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use in exchange for compensation. 

“They wanted to expand for parking lots and dorms on the backs of Black families, and Blacks couldn’t even get into UGA,” said Hattie Thomas Whitehead, as reported by AJC. “It is heartbreaking because a whole community — that nurtured, loved and supported you — was erased.” 

Whitehead is the president and community outreach coordinator for the Linnentown Project, a community-driven effort campaigning for reparations for the historic Black community. 

Up to the 1960s, Whitehead estimated about 40 Black families lived in Linnentown, with about 60% of them owning their homes. 

The Linnentown group received “reparations” from the Athens-Clarke County Commission in February, when the commission unanimously adopted a broad resolution recognizing and apologizing for acts of “institutionalized white racism and terrorism” perpetrated against former residents by the city and UGA during the period of urban renewal.  

It is said to be the first action taken by any Georgia government institution to address a Black community’s devastation. 

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“Through intimidation, weaponized code enforcement, inequitable property value judgments, controlled demolition by fires, forced tenancy and rent, tokenized Black representation, invasions of financial privacy, and paternalistic relocation policies, Linnentown was effectively erased without a trace by the City of Athens and the University System of Georgia,” the resolution read. 

While the apology and subsequent resolution is a start, some families say it’s not nearly enough.