Chronology

Newsletter

1863 January 1 .............. The Emancipation Proclamation is issued by President Lincoln.

1865 January 16 ..……. Sherman’s Field Order No.15 is issued. This order
  confiscates, as Federal property, a strip of coastline stretching
  from Charleston, SC to the St. John’s River in FL, including
  Georgia’s Sea Islands and the mainland thirty miles in from
  the coast. This amounts to approximately 400,000 acres that
  is to be distributed to former slaves in 40-acre parcels.

  This order is a short-lived action by the Federal government;
  President Andrew Johnson rescinds it later the same year.
  However, the historical importance of Field Order 15 is that
  the present-day “movement” supporting reparations has
  pointed to it as the Federal government’s first attempt to make
  restitution for slavery.

1865 September 2 .……. In her Last Will & Testament, Margret Ann Harris deeds the
  lands of her plantation to Robert Dellegall, her former slave
  and an ancestor of the Moran family and others in present-
  day Harris neck. This establishes rightful ownership of the lands
  that come to be known known as Harris Neck by the 75 African American
  families that live on Harris Neck from 1865 to 1942.

1942 July …….…............ The Federal government, via an Eminent Domain condemnation
  takes the 2,687 acres of Harris Neck for the stated purpose of national
  security to build an Army airfield. The people are given a few
  weeks to move off their land. Crops, houses and most
  other buildings, save the FAB Church of Harris Neck and the
  house of Lilly Livingston (one of two single white women who live on
  Harris Neck), are bulldozed and/or burned. No provisions
  are made by the government for the community, regarding new
  land or future living arrangements; the people, now homeless, are
  simply left to fend for themselves.

  Most, but not all, property owners are paid a few dollars per
  acre for their land. (There is no evidence, however that people were
  paid for their houses, businesses, and other buildings and "improvements"
  or that everyone was paid for their land.) There is also a promise
  made by the government that the the people can return home at the
  end of the war.

  The official eviction date is July 27, 1942.

  New research has shown that most of the procedures stipulated
  under Eminent Domain were not properly followed and people’s
  rights to Due Process were violated in numerous ways,
  making the original taking of the land and, therefore, all additional
  transfers of title, unlawful and invalid. Other documents reveal that
  White landowners were paid 40 percent more than Black owners,
  even though the former, with three exceptions, never even lived
  on Harris Neck.

  In the spring of 1942, two ships had been sunk off the Georgia
  coast, near Brunswick, and, reportedly, German U-boats were
  sited off Harris Neck. Some say this is the reason the government
  came to Harris Neck to build its airfield. However, it is the
  contention of those from Harris Neck that a few local power
  brokers in McIntosh County started this rumor in order to lead
  federal agents specifically to Harris Neck with plans that they,
  or at least the county, would get the land after the war (which is
  what happened). Newly discovered documents support the
  contention of a local conspiracy or at least duplicitous behavior
  by county officials, not only in 1942 but also after the war when
  the county acquired Harris Neck. Documents also reveal that
  there was other land adjacent to Harris Neck, just as suitable,
  that the Army could have used. In fact, just south of Harris
  Neck there were 3,595 acres of virtually uninhabited land that
  had been owned by one of the county commissioners who was
  also the largest White landowner on Harris Neck.

1942................................... A triangular airfield is constructed by the US Army Corps of
  Engineers for the Army Air Corp's training of fighter pilots.

1946................October 25  Assumption of accountability of Harris Neck by the War Assets
  Administration.

1948.....................June 24  The War Assets Administration, the federal agency that dealt
  with the disposition of surplus property after World War II,
  conveys the 2,687 acres of Harris Neck to McIntosh County.
  The deed for this conveyance states that Harris Neck is to be
  used only as a county airport. This does not happen; instead,
  from 1947 to 1961 McIntosh County completely violates its
  contract with the federal government, permitting numerous
  illegal activities – including prostitution, gambling, drag racing
  and even drug smuggling – to occur.

1961.................................... After years of complaints about McIntosh County’s misuse
  of the lands of Harris Neck, the federal government reclaims
  all 2,687 acres and conveys title to the Department of Interior,
  which creates a National Wildlife Refuge, operated by the U S
  Fish & Wildlife Service (“FWS”) from 1962 to the present.

1979.................................... McIntosh County Sheriff Tom Poppell apologizes to the
  congregation of FAB Church of Harris Neck for not helping
  when he had the opportunity to get the land back for the community.
  He was terminally ill at this time and died not long after.
  In the hospital he asked for a few of the leaders of the
  former community to come see him, but he died before
  they arrived. Was he going to tell them the details
  of what the county did in 1942 and in 1948 and who was
  responsible?

1979 April 28.................. Former members of the Harris Neck community and their
  descendants, as well as several national civil rights leaders,
  converge on Harris Neck in an attempt to reclaim their land.
  People go onto Harris Neck, set up tents, and prepare to construct
  new buildings.

1979 May 2 ………….... Four people are arrested by Federal marshals and sentenced
  to a month in jail in Savannah.

1980 August 1  .……… Edgar Timmons, Jr. and the group known as People Organized
  for Equal Rights (POER) file a Motion for Relief (Civil Case No. 56)
  for the return of Harris Neck. The NAACP and the
  Emergency Land Fund assist POER in their legal efforts.

1980 August 25............. U S District Court, Southern District of Georgia* (Judge
  B. Avant Edenfield) denies this Motion and permanently enjoins
  the defendants from occupying Harris Neck. In his ruling the judge states,
   “Title is vested in the United States and cannot be returned to the original
  owners without Congressional authorization. There is no remedy for
  defendants in the courts." 

1979-1980 …………….. Attempts are made by Timmons and POER to have US
  Congressman Bo Ginn and Senator Herman Talmadge sponsor
  bills in the House and Senate for the return of their land.
  Nothing materializes; no bill even makes it out of
  committee.

1983 February 20 ……. The CBS TV news program 60 MINUTES** airs a program
  on the Harris Neck controversy, its history, and attempts by former
  community members to regain their land.

2005.................................... A new effort to reclaim the land of Harris Neck for its rightful
  owners – beginning with research of old court documents,
  federal and county records, and more – is initiated.

2006.................................... Most of the original families who lived on Harris Neck are
  located. It is discovered that a few families no longer exist.

2006 December .............. The Harris Neck Land Trust LLC (The "Trust") is formed. A Board of
  Directors is elected and an Advisory Board and Executive
  Committee are formed.

2007 January 9 ………. The County Commission of McIntosh County unanimously
  passes the Harris Neck Resolution, acknowledging McIntosh
  County’s complicity in the improper acquisition and use of
  Harris Neck after World War II and also supporting the present
  movement to reclaim Harris Neck for its rightful owners.

2007..................................... A duly authorized Family Representative is chosen by each of
  the original and surviving families of Harris Neck.

2007................................... With the assistance of a landscape architecture/land use planning
  firm, the Trust begins work on a Preservation and Community
  Development Plan for a new Harris Neck community.

2007................................... The Harris Neck Land Trust contracts with a natural resources
  consulting firm to conduct environmental and cultural site
  assessments of Harris Neck. These assessements and inventories are
  incorporated into the Community Development Plan.

2007................................... Members of the Trust’s Board of Directors meet with U.S.
  Representatives Jack Kingston (R-GA) and John Barrow (D-GA)
  to inform them of the new Harris Neck movement and to
  ask for their support in Congress.

2008................................... The Trust contracts with a natural resources consulting firm to
  conduct environmental and cultural/historical assessments of
  Harris Neck. These assessments and inventories are incorporated
  into the Preservation and Community Development Plan.

2008................................... Meetings with other key members of the U.S. House of
  Representatives and Senate are held to advise members of the
  movement and to ask for their support of legislation to effect
  the return of Harris Neck.

2008-2009......................... Meetings continue with key members of the House and Senate, and the ................................................frequency of discussions with US Congressman Jack Kingston and his staff ................................................increases dramatically. Mr. Kingston tells the Trust he wishes to have FWS ................................................"on board" with the Trust before legislation is introduced.

2009 December 10...........After several months of effort by the Trust, a meeting is finally held with Mr. ...............................................Kingston and other members of Congress, FWS and the Trust 's BOD. Mr. ...............................................Kingston makes a commitment, agreed to by all present, to find an "equitable ...............................................solution" to the Harris Neck situation. A second meeting is called for as soon ...............................................as it can be arranged.

2010 March 11.................. A follow-up meeting to the one on December 10th is held in Hardeeville, SC. ...............................................Representatives of FWS, Congressman Kingston, and the Trust try to find ...............................................some common ground from which to proceed towards legislation. However, ...............................................FWS makes it clear to the Trust's BOD that they will not support any efforts ...............................................that lead to a transfer of title and the return of Harris Neck to the people of ...............................................Harris Neck via the Trust.

2010 May 18...................... The Trust holds a news conference at First African Baptist Missionary Church
..............................................of Harris Neck, inviting all the major media in coastal Georgia.

2010 July 1........................ The national media campaign begins with an article in the New York Times.
..............................................This article is followed by many other newspaper articles and radio and TV .............................................. broadcasts.

2011 December 15...........An Oversight hearing is held before the Committee on Natural
...............................................Resources’ Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and
...............................................Insular Affairs. This subcommittee votes to accept draft
...............................................legislation by the Trust.

2012 March.......................The Trust signs a Letter of Engagement with the prestigious law firm Holland & ..............................................Knight, which agrees to assist the Trust, pro bono, with its efforts to get ..............................................legislation passed by congress.

2012 March.......................The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission passes a ..............................................resolution in support of the Harris Neck Land Trust's efforts to reclaim Harris ..............................................Neck for the rightful owners.

  *   Of additional historic note and importance, relating to Harris Neck, and especially to
  one of Judge Edenfield’s main contentions that the Statute of Limitations had expired
  for the people of Harris Neck, there have been at least two major developments since
  that 1980 court ruling make Statue of Limitations a moot point for Harris Neck.

1) Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing redress to thousands of Japanese American families for their losses of property and livelihood, sustained during the years of World War II.
The total award was $1.6 billion.

2) In 2005 Congress returned more than 15,000 acres to the Colorado River Indian Tribe reservation. The federal government had taken this land during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, via an Executive Order, for reasons similar to those relating to Harris Neck.

** Since the late 1970s, there has been a great deal of media coverage about Harris Neck,
  mostly newspaper and magazine articles, but also radio and TV reports and programs.