A former Vermont Law School environmental faculty member, Rivers James plans to discuss both social justice and property issues during her keynote address.
Rivers James was instrumental in establishing the Center for Heirs' Property Preservation in Charleston, S.C., her hometown. Land ownership and retention is at the core of black community sustainability, and the center and others like it work to safeguard that heritage. Through education and legal services, the center promotes the sustainable use of property to protect families from developers and increase their economic benefit.
Between the end of the Civil War and 1920, according to the Heirs' Property Retention Coalition, "African Americans obtained nearly 20 million acres of land in the United States. … Today, while some low-income African American families in rural areas (but also in some urban areas) continue to own significant land holdings that have been passed down over the generations, the vast majority of this land has been lost over the last 90 years."
Lands were lost as a result of illegal acts, violence against landowners, discrimination against black farmers, and lack of access to the legal system.
"We welcome back Professor Rivers James to Vermont Law School and hope the public joins us in remembering and celebrating Dr. King's legacy," said Shirley A. Jefferson, associate dean for Student Affairs and Diversity at VLS. "The observance promises to be inspiring, and we look forward to learning more about heir property ownership issues from Professor Rivers James. Unbeknownst to many people, historically and still today, threats to property ownership have been used to disenfranchise black people in this country."
At Elon, Rivers James teaches legislation, nonprofit organizations, property, and public law and leadership. She received a bachelor's in government and sociology from Dartmouth College and a juris doctorate from Harvard Law School. She is a member of the South Carolina Bar, the District of Columbia Bar, and the North Carolina Bar Association.
For more information about the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Observance, or about student affairs and diversity at Vermont Law School, email Associate Dean Shirley Jefferson at sjefferson@vermontlaw.edu or call 802-831-1333.
Faith Rivers James' image courtesy of Elon University School of Law
Martin Luther King, Jr. photographed by Marion S. Trikosko, 1964. LC-DIG-ppmsc-01269 Source: Library of Congress