Island slave descendants settle Georgia discrimination suit

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A small enclave of slave descendants on the Georgia coast has settled a lawsuit that claimed discrimination in government services was eroding their community. Hogg Hummock on Sapelo Island is one of the few remaining Gullah-Geechee communities in the Southeast U.S. Island residents and landowners since 2015 had been battling McIntosh County, arguing they were paying high taxes but receiving few basic services. The opposing parties reached a settlement in late July just before the case was scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court. The deal calls for the county to improve emergency services, provide road maintenance and freeze some property tax assessments through 2025.