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

A historic gold-rush town in Northern California is at the center of a restitution fight led by Black families who say their ancestors' land was taken. Gold was found in Coloma in 1848, a discovery that set off the California gold rush. White, Asian, and free and enslaved Black people settled in the town in the years that followed. Decades later, the government seized land from Black and white families to make way for the Marshall Gold Discovery State Park. Black residents living today who say they are descended from families who owned property in Coloma before it was seized are seeking compensation or for the land to be returned.