California moves to return seized beach to Black couple's descendants
CBSN
Sacramento — California lawmakers unanimously moved Thursday to allow the return of prime beachfront property to descendants of a Black couple who were stripped of their resort for African Americans amid racist harassment a century ago.
What was known as Bruce's Beach in the city of Manhattan Beach was purchased in 1912 by Willa and Charles Bruce. They built the first West Coast resort for Black people during an era when racial segregation barred them from many beaches. The couple built a lodge, café, dance hall and dressing tents with bathing suits for rent.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.