CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — Momentum is building in Charleston around a major push for reparations, to effectively transfer more than 7,000 acres of land into permanent Gullah Geechee stewardship, and the clock is now ticking for some of the Lowcountry’s most well-known plantations to respond after they were given 40 days to do so.
- Charleston Reparations Task Force demands permanent Gullah Geechee stewardship of former plantations like Middleton Place, Magnolia, and Boone Hall.
- More than 135 businesses, organizations, and community members back the land demand, saying plaques are not enough and stewardship would create living, community-led spaces.
- Plantation institutions issued statements committing to honest interpretation and dialogue, while advocates demand real land ownership rather than symbolic gestures.
More than 135 businesses, organizations and community members are backing a demand that could reshape thousands of acres of Lowcountry land, and they say action is needed now more than ever to protect the future of Gullah Geechee culture.
“Control of our destiny and self-determination. That’s what we asking for and that’s what we demanding,” Marcus McDonald, organizer with the Charleston Reparations Task Force and a Boone Hall descendant, said.
The Charleston Reparations Task Force and Gullah Geechee leaders are demanding the transfer of more than 7,000 acres of former plantation land — including Middleton Place, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, and Boone Hall Plantation — into permanent Gullah Geechee stewardship.
“If we had our own land, we could teach our own, educate our own, we can bring back our culture, you know, and um it just would be amazing thing. You know what I’m saying? I dream about it. One day it might come true,” Calvin Smith, a descendant of Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, said.
All three sites carry deep roots of slavery — the task force calls it stolen labor and stolen lives. And some living descendants grew up on those very plantations – under different circumstances.
“You never forget your ancestors being there and living there every day, you know what I’m saying? You rely on the memories of people telling you about your ancestors and the good things they did,” Smith said.
More than 135 businesses and community members have signed a public letter backing the land demand – they say plaques and programs are not enough to share and embrace their cultural history.
“It’s hard for me to do weddings on plantations because I know it’s bloodland and it’s awful and I feel like the history of it has been wiped away in so many aspects. I feel like this is really important,” Amy Robinette, a local baker with The Cake Farmer, said.
Supporters say Gullah Geechee stewardship wouldn’t just reclaim the past — it would transform these sites into living, community-led spaces. Open to all, but governed by those whose ancestors built them.
“We carry their hurts, we carry their wounds, and I just think it’s important that will be a safe space for healing, for us to actually benefit the communities around us, and the black community,” Miah Palmer, a descendant of Boone Hall Plantation, said.
Middleton Place said the following statement:
“Middleton Place Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational trust dedicated to preserving and interpreting one of America’s most significant historic landscapes. Our mission is grounded in preservation and education, ensuring that the full and complex history of Middleton Place is shared with honesty and respect. Central to our work is advancing a complete and honest interpretation of our history, one that centers the contributions and enduring legacies of the enslaved Africans and African Americans who lived and labored here. The landscape itself reflects their knowledge and skill, shaped by artisans and laborers whose expertise, resilience, and cultural traditions continue to inform how this place and the Lowcountry is understood today.
As a nonprofit organization, Middleton Place Foundation exists to serve the public good. All resources directly support the preservation of this National Historic Landmark and the educational programs that bring these stories to life for visitors and the broader community. We believe that engaging with this history, both its beauty and its brutality, is essential. It invites reflection, deepens understanding, and encourages meaningful dialogue about the past and its continuing impact today. We are aware of and respect the perspectives recently shared by members of the community, and we remain committed to engaging thoughtfully and responsibly in dialog, while continuing to advance our mission with care and integrity.”
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens also released the following statement:
“Magnolia Plantation & Gardens has been part of the Lowcountry for more than 350 years. We do not take lightly the full weight of that history, including the lives of the enslaved men, women, and children whose labor, knowledge, and resilience shaped this land. Telling that story honestly — not selectively — is central to our mission. We are committed to honest interpretation, meaningful community partnership, and ensuring that the full history is told with integrity. We are aware of the perspectives recently shared by community members. We remain committed to ongoing research, bringing forward the full breadth of Magnolia’s history, and advancing public understanding through thoughtful, accurate, and responsible interpretation.”
Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens said in a statement:
“Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens operates under a land conservatorship, with a deep commitment to preserving and representing one of the Lowcountry’s most historically significant landscapes. Our mission is grounded in responsible stewardship and education, ensuring that the full and complex history of this land is shared with honesty and respect. We are aware of and respect the perspectives recently shared by members of the community, and we remain committed to engaging thoughtfully and responsibly, while continuing to advance our mission with care and integrity.”
The task force has given plantation owners a 40-day deadline, which began April 22, to respond to their demands. And those involved say action needs to be taken now before it’s too late.
“These three plantations want to do right by their history, they need to do right by the future and these the future generations of black and Gullah people so we can have a place to be protected. If there’s no protection for us, we will be erased in these next 10-15 years without true protection or without true um self-determination of the land of that we own and cannot be just taken away from us like it has been over the years,” McDonald said.
The plantations’ deadline imposed by the task force is June 1, and the group says it’s time to move past symbolic gestures because, to them, true representation is land ownership.
