Hilton Head Island resident Josephine Wright died this year at the age of 94. Now, two months after her death, Wright’s fight is finally over: Bailey Point Investment, the construction company that fought for her land, has reached a settlement with Wright’s family after initially filing a ownership lawsuit early last year .
According to South Carolina Public Radio, the settlement recognizes the Wright family’s ownership of the property in the center of the 29-acre Bailey Point planned community. The company has been unable to contact the Wright family about purchasing the land, and a privacy fence will be erected between the Wright family’s land and the new building.
Wright’s tale of an old woman at a Dickensian development company captivated a national audience and sparked outcry from the likes of Tyler Perry, who pledged to Wright is building a new house on the property, while Snoop Dogg and Kyrie Irving donated $10,000 and $40,000, respectively. Wright’s GoFundMe has raised more than $350,000.
Wright is survived by four children, 40 grandchildren and dozens of great- and great-grandchildren. She and her late husband, Samuel Wright Jr., moved to Hilton Head from New York City about 30 years ago Island, looking for a place of peace and tranquility. Jonesville, the community they moved into, was named after Caesar Jones, a black Civil War veteran and former slave who purchased property in the area immediately after the war. Wright Jr’s family (Gullah Geechee) has owned 1.8 acres on the island since about the same time.
After the Civil War, the Gullah Geechee people who lived in Hilton Head owned most of the land. By 1880, Hilton Head was approximately 98% black. Today, Hilton Head is approximately 77% white. Gullah Geechee’s landholdings on Hilton Head Island have been reduced by 70% since 1995, and as of 2021, her descendants own only 8% of the island’s total residential square footage, according to the Greenville News.
In 2022, Bailey Point received town approval to build a new 147-unit community that would surround Wright’s property. The company suggested Wright buy her land, but she declined. Last February, the company filed a lawsuit against her, alleging that Wright’s home encroached on its land. The town refused to issue a certificate of compliance to Bailey’s Point until it reached an agreement with Wright.
After refusing to sell, Wright said she suffered bullying, intimidation and harassment from the company, such as littering her house and property and cutting down her bush. She said the company even tried to get around her by negotiating with other family members.
“They want it all,” Wright told the Island Post last year. “I made a little joke, I said to one of my kids, ‘Maybe I’d better be careful, who knows what could happen to a little old lady.'”
Where Gullah Geechee’s historic home stood, sacred spaces like ancestral sites and burial sites are now golf courses, condominiums and country clubs, most of which are frequented by wealthy white retirees. . Residents of Black Hilton Head have long tried to fight ongoing gentrification and encroachment on their land, a phenomenon that began in 1957 with the opening of Sea Pines, a 5,200-acre gated community, which manages four golf courses.
Wright spent the last year of her life on the offensive, fighting to preserve her home. Now, her family has inherited her land, but not her land. Under the new Josephine Wright Foundation, her relatives plan to help others in similar situations.
