New Communities’ 1970 Land Purchase Near Leesburg

In the story of New Communities, the key object is not a trophy or a framed document. It is a documented act of landholding: a Black-led nonprofit closing on thousands of acres near Leesburg, Georgia, on January 9, 1970. The Center for Community Land Trust Innovation records that New Communities Inc. came into possession of 3,000 acres of farmland and more than 2,000 acres of woodland, financed mostly through borrowing against a purchase price of $1,080,000.

That land purchase matters because it gave legal form to an organizing idea. Charles Sherrod had seen Black families lose homes or jobs because they registered to vote or joined the Albany Movement. Slater King, C. B. King, Fay Bennett, Leonard Smith, Albert J. McKnight and others helped shape a corporation that the case history describes, through its articles of incorporation, as holding land in perpetual trust for the permanent use of rural communities.

What This Record Shows

The purchase did not make New Communities sovereign, and it did not complete the planned residential settlements. The record shows something both narrower and powerful: organizers turned civil-rights-era land insecurity into an institution able to hold land, farm it, house some families in existing buildings, and pursue a longer community plan.

New Communities farmed corn, peanuts, soybeans, watermelons, hay and cattle. Several families lived in buildings already on the land. But the two planned residential communities were not built. Federal development support described in the CLT history did not arrive; debt, drought, agricultural risk and discriminatory lending pressure later helped force the loss of the land.

Historical And Financial Context

The strongest public financial figure for this featured landholding is the original January 1970 purchase price reported by the Center for Community Land Trust Innovation: $1,080,000. That figure is historical purchase context, not a present valuation, appraisal, or offer to sell. Defeat History does not sell this land or any featured object.

SNCC Legacy Project records a later chapter: after New Communities lost the original tract, the organization received a $12 million settlement connected to USDA discrimination claims and purchased the 1,638-acre Cypress Pond property in 2011. That later purchase is part of the organization’s continuity, not proof that the original 1970 tract is currently available to visit or buy.

Where To Learn More Or Visit

No museum display of an original 1970 deed or closing file has been verified for this profile. The original Lee County landholding was lost to foreclosure in the 1980s, so the 1970 tract should not be treated as a current Defeat History visiting opportunity. New Communities’ later Cypress Pond work is described by SNCC Legacy Project and New Communities’ own public presence, but readers should verify current access directly with New Communities before planning travel.

Why It Connects To The Episode

Land, Ownership, and the Foundations of a Community asks what changes when a community can hold land for a shared future. New Communities gives that question a legal, agricultural and human scale. The purchase record makes visible a concrete answer: landholding can become a tool for civic freedom, work and continuity, while still remaining exposed to debt, policy decisions, weather and discrimination.

Watch The Episode

Watch the Defeat History documentary Land, Ownership, and the Foundations of a Community. The public playlist is Our History, Our Home, Our Future.

Sources

• Center for Community Land Trust Innovation, History of New Communities Inc.
• SNCC Legacy Project, New Communities
• Grounded Solutions Network, Community Land Trusts

Source-reported display status: Unknown / not verified. The effective availability above applies the supplied date window; unknown dates are not inferred. Confirm access with the venue.

Defeat History does not sell objects. Historical prices, published estimates and comparable ranges are context, not an offer or a current valuation. Unknown value does not mean zero.

Actual-object image not published; image or rights information is unavailable.

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated September 29, 2026 · Report a correction