America ReFramed

EISNER: In 2019, I was speaking with my cousin Bill, who lives in the Savannah area.

Bill said, "The Quarterman family still own this plot of ten acres of land that George Adam Keller gave, uh, Zeike Quarterman in the 1800s."

ROY: When we found out the land was given to Zeike, he came alive again, to us.

PASTOR: If you got anything on your heart right now, this is the time, hallelujah... RANDY (voiceover): In August 2019, I had an email from Sarah acknowledging who her family was, and if I was a descendant of Zeike Quarterman, who was enslaved by, uh, George Adam Keller.

I was just, like, taken offtrack a little bit.

EISNER: I was definitely nervous and scared.

RANDY: My question was, "What are they doing here?

What, what's the... what's going on?"

EISNER: I remember thinking, "What have I done?

What if they yell at me?"

If they do, they do.

They, they have every right to be angry.

RANDY: I consulted with Patt Gunn, somebody that was doing this type of work and understanding it.

GUNN: And so, you're standing in a sacred ground.

This is a slave-holding bin, we believe.

RANDY: She told me, said, "Hey," you know, "your ancestors is on your back.

It, it's a special moment for you.

You need to engage."

(birds chirping) It's right here.

See, the one, two... EISNER: Yeah.

...three, four.

And this is, is... is staggered into a corner is, like, where our house would be right here.

(voiceover): For me and my family, we, we know this as heirs property, land that's passed down through family generations, that has no will to say, "This person owns the land."

It should have been Zeike's house.

This probably was the house structure that was... they lived at.

(voiceover): But the land is not in our possession.

A court-appointed lawyer became the executor of our property.

See, it's like old bricks from back then.

(voiceover): And then, Sarah was like, "Hey, I really want to get you some help to try to clear this title."

EISNER: I thought, "This is so obviously a case of reparations, because of America's first attempt at reparations right in that area.

(gunfire)