In a California gold rush town, some Black families are fighting for land taken from their ancestors

COLOMA, Calif. (AP) — In a tiny town where the California gold rush began, Black families are seeking restitution for land that was taken from their ancestors to make way for a state park now frequented by fourth graders learning about the state's history.

Their efforts in Coloma, a town of around 300 people that’s located about 36 miles (58 kilometers) northeast of Sacramento, are one of the latest examples of Black Americans urging the government to atone for practices that have kept them from thriving long after chattel slavery was abolished.

Debates over reparations for African Americans often come back to land. That was at the center of a promise originally made — and later broken — by the U.S. government to formerly enslaved Black people in the mid-1800s: Give them up to 40 acres (16 hectares) of land as restitution for their time enslaved. For some, the promise of reparations has been nothing more than Fool’s gold, epitomized by a bill in Congress that’s stalled since it was first introduced in the 1980s, even though it’s aimed at studying reparations and named after the original promise.

The fight in Coloma is taking place in a state where the governor signed a first-in-the-nation law to study reparations. But advocates are pushing for the state to go further.

Gold was found near Coloma in 1848 by James W. Marshall, a white carpenter, setting off the California gold rush that saw hundreds of thousands of people from across the nation and outside of the U.S. come — or be brought — to the state. Those who migrated included white, Asian, and free and enslaved Black people.

Decades later, Black and white families had their land taken by the government in the town before it was turned into the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, which opened in 1942. The park today is home to a museum, churches and cemeteries where residents were buried. A nearly 42-foot (13-meter) monument of Marshall stands on its grounds.

But the history of Black families who settled in Coloma only recently started getting increased recognition. California State Parks launched an initiative in 2020 to reexamine its past and to tell “a more thorough, inclusive, and complete history” of California, department spokesperson Adeline Yee said in an email to The Associated Press. The department created a webpage with information about properties owned by Black families at the park in Coloma.

Elmer Fonza, a retiree who worked at a brewery in California before eventually relocating to Nevada, said he is the third-great grandson of Nelson Bell, a formerly enslaved Black man from Virginia who became a property owner in Coloma.

After Bell’s death in 1869, a judge determined he had no heirs in the state, and his estate was sold at an auction, according to a probate document shared by the El Dorado County Historical Museum.

It is unclear what happened to Bell’s property in the years that followed, Fonza said, adding that the land should be returned to his family.

“We rightfully believe that we have been denied the generational wealth that our family may have been entitled to if given our rightful inheritance — the land once owned by Nelson Bell,” he said at the final meeting of a first-in-the-nation state reparations task force.

Nancy Gooch, a Black woman, was brought to Coloma from the South in 1849 by a white man who enslaved her and her husband. Gooch was soon freed when California became a state and worked as a cook and cleaned laundry for miners. She later brought her son, Andrew Monroe, from Missouri to join them in the town. The Monroe-Gooch family would become one of the most prosperous Black landowners in California.

“We have to bring forth the truth, because that’s reconciliation,” said Jonathan Burgess, a Sacramento resident who co-owns a barbecue catering business, and who also is claiming land in Coloma was that of his descendants. “And then once we bring forth the truth, which I’ve been doing in speaking the whole time, we’ve got to make it right.”

Making it right would mean compensating families for land that can’t be returned or returning property where possible, Burgess said in an interview at the park. He said he is descended from Rufus Morgan Burgess, a Black writer who was brought to Coloma with his father, who was enslaved.

Jonathan Burgess also said his family is descended from Bell, but the Fonza and Burgess families say they are not related to each other. The discrepancy highlights the difficult work that could be ahead for Black residents if California ever passes reparations legislation requiring families to document their lineage.

Cheryl Austin, a retiree living in Sacramento, said she is an heir of John A. Wilson and Phoebe Wilson, a free, married Black couple who came to Coloma during the late 1850s. After John and Phoebe Wilson died, their property was sold through probate, Austin said. The state must somehow repair harm done to families whose property was seized, she said.

The restitution fight in California comes as lawmakers are weighing reparations proposals in the state Legislature. That includes a bill to create the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency, which would help Black residents research their family lineage. Another proposal would make any families whose land was seized unjustly by the government due to racially discriminatory motives entitled to the return of the property or compensation.

The legislation, which is expected to be voted on this summer, reflects a growing push for restitution by Black families targeting the misuse of a practice known as eminent domain, where the government must pay people fairly for property it plans to make available for public use. The issue garnered attention across the state when local officials in Los Angeles County returned a beachfront property in 2022 to a Black couple, nearly a century after it was taken by the government from their ancestors.

Earlier this month, California marked a milestone when Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom included $12 million in the state's 2024 budget to spend on reparations legislation. But the budget does not specify what the money would be used for, and estimates from the state say the bills could cost millions of dollars annually.

State Sen. Steven Bradford, a Los Angeles-area Democrat who authored the proposals, said they will help the state atone for taken land, adding that land ownership is critical to building general wealth.

“Reparations was never about a check,” Bradford said. “It was about land.”

Associated Press photographer Godofredo A. Vásquez contributed to this report.

Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna

Descendants from Nelson Bell, relatives from left: brothers, Milford Fonza and Elmer Fonza, Trent Mure, and William Woolery pose for a picture at the tombstone of Nelson Bell (1790-1869) at the Pioneer Cemetery in Coloma, El Dorado County, Calif., on June 2023. (Elmer Fonza Family Photo via AP)

Descendants of Nelson Bell, brothers Milford Fonza, front left, and Elmer Fonza, front right, surrounded by extended family members, show their ancestors' pictures in Glendora, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. Family members standing from left: Trent Mure, with son Armani Mure, and his wife Tami Mure, William Woolery, Louie Hobbs and Carolyn Fonza. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Descendants of Nelson Bell, Milford Fonza, left, and his brother, Elmer Fonza pose for a picture at Milford's home in Glendora, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. Bell was a black gold miner and land owner who lived in Coloma, Calif., from 1850 until his death in 1869. The land once owned by Bell is now part of a California State Park. They believe that we have been denied the generational wealth that their family may have been entitled to if given our rightful inheritance, the land once owned by Nelson Bell. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Descendants of Nelson Bell, from left: Tami More, with husband Trent Mure, and son, Armani, William Woolery, Louie Hoops and brothers, Milford Fonza, sitting center, and Elmer Fonza with wife, Carolyn, pose for a picture in Glendora, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

People walk through Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Coloma, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A girl rides a bicycle on a trail at the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Coloma, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Descendants of Nelson Bell, relatives from left, William Woolery, Trent Mure, and brothers, Milford Fonza and Elmer Fonza, far right, gather around a picture of their ancestor Ethel Bell while showing family pictures in Glendora, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

The present-day Grange Hall, center, is seen as school children, foreground, visit Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Coloma, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Family heirlooms are seen inside Matthew Burgess' home Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The South Fork of American River flows alongside Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Coloma, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Emmanuel Church remains at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Coloma, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A tombstone for ancestors of the Burgess family is seen at the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park cemetery Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Coloma, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Children visit Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Coloma, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

People cross Mt. Murphy Road Bridge into the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Coloma, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Matthew Burgess holds a photograph of his grandfather Rufus Morgan Burgess Jr., Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Matthew Burgess holds up the birth certificate for his grandfather, Rufus Morgan Burgess Jr., at his home Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Matthew, left, and his twin brother Jonathan Burgess are photographed with a portrait of their great-great-grandfather Nelson Bell, who the family say also went by the name Rufus Burgess, Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in Sacramento, Calif. The portrait has been passed down for generations in the Burgess family. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Descendants of Nelson Bell, brothers Milford Fonza, front left, and Elmer Fonza, front right, surrounded by extended family members, show their ancestors' pictures in Glendora, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. Family members standing from left: Trent Mure, with son Armani Mure, and his wife Tami Mure, William Woolery, Louie Hobbs and Carolyn Fonza. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Wisconsin health officials initiated a recall of eggs following an outbreak of salmonella infections among 65 people in nine states that originated on a Wisconsin farm.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services said in a statement Friday that those who have been infected by salmonella included 42 people in Wisconsin, where the eggs are believed to have been sold.

"The eggs were distributed in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan through retail stores and food service distributors," the department said. “The recall includes all egg types such as conventional cage-free, organic, and non-GMO, carton sizes, and expiration dates in containers labeled with 'Milo’s Poultry Farms' or 'Tony’s Fresh Market.'”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed in a statement on its website that 65 people in nine states were infected by a strain of salmonella, with 24 hospitalizations and no deaths as of Friday. The states include Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Virginia, Colorado, Utah and California, the agency said.

The egg recall was undertaken by Milo’s Poultry Farms LLC of Bonduel, Wisconsin, the CDC said.

“Anyone who purchased the recalled eggs is advised to not eat them or cook with them and to throw them away. Restaurants should not sell or serve recalled eggs," the Wisconsin health department said.

The department advised anyone who ate the eggs and is experiencing symptoms to contact a health care provider. The symptoms include diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and vomiting lasting for several days, the statement said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in July announced new measures to limit salmonella in poultry products. The proposed directive included requiring poultry companies to keep salmonella levels under a certain threshold and test for the presence of six particularly sickening forms of the bacteria, three found in turkey and three in chicken.

Bacteria exceeding the proposed standard and identification of any of the strains would prevent poultry sales and leave the products ubject to recall.

The CDC estimates salmonella causes 1.35 million infections annually, most through food, and about 420 deaths. The Agriculture Department estimates there are 125,000 infections from chicken and 43,000 from turkey each year.

FILE - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is shown, March 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)