Happy Black History Month! This week, we have a special guest, Ross Murph, aka MORFBOSS, a professional genealogist born in New York with Southern roots. He uses his research to uplift people and uncover overlooked parts of history. Ross shares examples from Los Angeles, CA, and Washington, DC, to tell the history of Black and Latino land loss. According to the American Bar Association, as an example, by 1997, Black farmers lost more than 90 percent of the 16 million acres they owned in 1910. This massive decline was possible through white privilege, power, and influence with local government officials to exploit laws. This presents itself in urban planning and real estate through government misuse of eminent domain, compensation below market value, discriminatory tax assessments, and coordinated discrimination. Press play to hear: 

• Nimo & Jas share personal stories of ancestry and land ownership  
• Arlington Freedman’s Village (now Arlington National Cemetery) and its history of slavery and emancipation
• Land loss related to Pio Pico, the last governor of Alta California under Mexican rule

Learn more from Ross and follow him @morfboss on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

Thank you for listening and tune in every other Tuesday where Nimo and Jas keep it Four Degrees to the Streets.

Follow us on X and Instagram @the4degreespod.

Or send us an email to connect with us!

Resources

Property Rights: The Neglected Theme of 20th-Century American Planning

Property Rights in American History - Hillsdale College

Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities (Book)

Taking on State Law in Defense of Family Farms - The Piedmont Environmental Council

Freedman's Village - Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial (U.S. National Park Service)

Whose Land? Claims at Arlington Estate - Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial (U.S. National Park Service)

John Bryce Syphax 

Freedman's Village

Vast Swaths of Southern California Once Belonged to Pío Pico

Pilar (Bernal) Pico will regarding land (Newspaper Article)