California beach returned to Black family nearly a century later

The California beach was seized from its Black owners by city officials in the 1920s, in a move deemed racist.

A Black-owned beach in the United States that served as a rare resort for Black patrons in segregation-era California, before it was seized by local officials in the 1920s, has been returned to the descendants of its original owners.

Activists and local legislators have long said the move by officials in 1924 to seize the property in Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County, which was owned by Black couple Charles and Willa Bruce, was motivated by racism.

In a Wednesday ceremony, Los Angeles County officials returned the deed of the prime property to Marcus and Derrick Bruce, the great-grandsons of the property’s owners, in what they described as the righting of a century-old racial injustice....