Corporations still profit from land seized from Black owners by Klan violence

Evidence

“In 1938, the court ruled the company [Masonite] had clear title to the land, which has since yielded millions of dollars in natural gas, timber and oil, according to state records. From the few property records that survived the fire, the AP was able to document that at least 204.5 of those acres had been acquired by Masonite after black owners were driven off by the Klan. At least 850,000 barrels of oil have been pumped from this property, according to state records. Today, the land is owned by International Paper, which acquired Masonite in 1988.” — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 933

Categorization

• XREF: Braces the book’s accounting-of-harm pillar with precise money figures — the land produced natural gas, timber, oil worth millions, then passed to International Paper.
• SEED: Current corporate beneficiaries of confiscated Black land is a strong hook for the ‘who owes whom’ enforcement question in reparations design.