Black landowners from a Georgia island community founded by freed slaves are fighting their latest property dispute with local officials at the ballot box. Voters in coastal McIntosh County were deciding a referendum Tuesday that seeks to override county commissioner's 2023 decision to double the size of homes allowed in Sapelo Island's tiny Hogg Hummock community.

‘It’s about the treatment and governance of Gullah Geechee people and communities throughout the state of Georgia.’

In a unanimous decision issued Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the right of McIntosh County residents to vote directly to repeal a controversial zoning decision that would allow larger houses in a traditional Gullah-Geechee enclave on Sapelo Island.

Attorney Ben Crump has filed a lawsuit over the October 2024 Sapelo Island dock collapse that killed seven attendees of a Gullah Geechee culture festival.

The Georgia Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments about a controversial zoning decision that threatens to change the character of an historic Gullah Geechee enclave in McIntosh County.

Early voting was already underway when a judge canceled the grassroots referendum last fall.

A new memoir by Atlanta journalist Neesha Powell-Ingabire is a reflection on slavery’s impact on the Georgia coast, her Geechee heritage, and the Geechee culture that exists today.

New zoning is put on hold while the Georgia Supreme Court weighs the validity of a referendum on the same issue.

The mental state felt by some survivors “will make the living jealous of the dead,” one attorney said.

McIntosh’s legal fees for two cases related to zoning on Sapelo Island have topped $170,000 and continue to grow. 

A special legislative hearing on the dock collapse has been scheduled for next week.

JR Grovner said that he told a Georgia DNR captain last summer that the Sapelo Island dock's gangway was “going to collapse.”

A dock collapsed at Sapelo Island, leaving several dead and many injured. The island was celebrating its annual Cultural Day.

“The zoning has an ability to eradicate more of the population, as if it hadn't already been destroyed enough,” one Gullah Geechee resident said.

More than 800 McIntosh residents have already cast their ballots regarding the repeal of Hogg Hummock zoning.