The Land Loss, Reparations & Housing Policy Conference

885 Centre Street,Newton MA 02459

23 March, 2023

Description

Note: there will be some overlap in speakers and content between the events of March 23rd at HLS and the 24th at BC Law. See agenda section for details. Guests may register for either or both dates. Thursday, March 23: Evening Kickoff Event on Black Land Loss and Reparations Location: Harvard Law School Presentations addressing Black land loss problems and solutions, followed by a roundtable discussion, Q&A and reception. Friday March 24: All-day Conference Location: Boston College Law School Keynote speaker: George C. Fatheree III, attorney in the landmark Bruce’s Beach case, a case in which a governmental body returned property wrongfully taken from Black Americans for the first time in U.S. history. Panels: Two history panels addressing Black land loss, and Boston’s housing inequality and unaffordability; and two policy panels on strategies to redress Black land loss, and housing affordability solutions. Conference organizer: Prof. Thomas W. Mitchell is part of the Land Loss and Reparations Project team, which estimates Black farm families have been deprived of at least $326 billion in generational wealth due to land loss. In addition, he was the principal drafter of model state legislation to reduce property loss among disadvantaged families that are disproportionately Black, which 22 states and other jurisdictions have adopted at this time with several more in the pipeline to consider adopting it. He is the Director of BC Law’s Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights. Co-sponsors: The Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights at BC Law The Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic The Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at the New School Institute for the Liberal Arts at Boston College