Chicago, IL. U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D IL.), the Rebirth of Englewood Community Development Corporation (ROE CDC), and the DePaul University College of Law will hold the inaugural First Congressional District of Illinois Reclamation of Southern Assets (ROSA) Land Project Conference on Saturday, June 12, 2004, from 9:00 A.M. 3:00 P.M., at the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute, 10 West 35th Street, Chicago, Illinois.

"The history of black people in this country is significantly impacted by the lack of a land based economy," said Congressman Rush. "This stems from not only the failure of the American government to keep its promise of 40 acres and a mule, but also the treacherous theft of African American owned land during the Jim Crow era of Southern segregation and aristocracy."

The ROSA project seeks to identify families who may have lost southern ancestral property due to migration, property taxes, claim failures, fraudulent purchase, or other reasons and provide them with the tools and services they need to retain and reclaim land assets, thereby returning lost wealth to many families.

To assist Congressman Rush on the ROSA project, DePaul recruited second and third year law students from DePaul, Emory University, Tulane University, Vanderbilt University, the University of Mississippi, and Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Collectively, these law students will work on the legal research and assistance in preparing the cases for the ROSA participants.

“There are lingering negative attitudes by some southerners left by northerners attempting to assert wealth in the south,” said Ray Waters, a law professor at DePaul and one of the architects of the ROSA program. “That’s why this project brings law students from southern law schools to Chicago to work with DePaul law students in an effort to help individuals with land interests in the south retain and reclaim their land assets and make the nexus between land ownership and wealth. Continued governmental policies and customs combined with dire poverty had literally forced many of these people off their land in the south to seek better opportunities in the north.”

At the ROSA conference, participants will attend various "self help" workshops which will train attendees in researching, locating, and securing lost property. Conference attendees will complete basic questionnaires that will provide evaluators with information regarding lost property.

"Reclaiming southern lands is an integral part of increasing African American wealth," said Vincent Barnes, executive director of ROE CDC. “In turn, we produce and retain intergenerational wealth, which is important in strengthening our families and our communities," Barnes concluded.

For more information, please call the Rebirth of Englewood @ 773/778-2371.