Help The Keen Family Recover Denied Inheritance
Help the Keen family
claim their Inheritance
- Thousands of Acres Stolen Though Unconstitutional Racist Law
- Help the Keen Descendants Claim Land Willed To Them BY Ancestor
- Over 1,000 Acres Denied the Family Through Racist Laws
- Your contribution helps the Keen family fight for justice and claim their inheritance denied through racist laws
- Support the Keen Family
- Reclaim stolen Black land through advocacy, sign the petition, ‘Help The Keen Family Reclaim Land Stolen under Racist Law in Missouri
Support the Keen Family
Your contribution helps the Keen family fight for justice in which their right to inheritance is honored and compensation is afforded for the injustice.
Support the Keen Family
Your contribution helps the Keen family fight for justice in which their right to inheritance is honored and compensation is afforded for the injustice.
Support the Keen Family
Your contribution helps the Keen family fight for justice in which their right to inheritance is honored and compensation is afforded for the injustice.
The Magnitude of Injustice
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch “Unlawful acts, performed long enough and with sufficient vigor, are not enough to amend the law. To hold otherwise would be to elevate the most brazen and longstanding injustices over the law, both rewarding wrong and failing those in the right, requiring willful blindness to the statutory language.
1,000+
Acres Stolen
Land taken from the Keen family through racist laws
Tens of Millions
Estimated Loss
In current value of stolen property and lost generational wealth
9
Keen Children
Rightful heirs denied their father's WILLED inheritance
120+
Years
Since the injustice - it's time to make it right
Support the Keen Family
The Issue
Help the keen family claim state court denied inheritance under unconstitutional law meant to prohibit interracial couples from officially marrying, which by law stopped their children from inheriting from them.
Help give Eli Keen’s willed land and other holding to the intended Heirs.
This is a story about unconstitutional state legislation supporting the doctrine of white supremacy. This is a story about a man and his commitment to family; family having more to do with morals and civilization of a people than any other institution. This is a story about Phoebe and Eli Keen Jr., U.S. citizens residing in the state of Missouri, under Jim Crow Law.
A Family Built Against the Law
Phoebe Keen was born Phoebe Stokes between 1822 and 1825. Around 1847, Phoebe and her daughter Martha, who was around one year old at the time, were sold to Eli Keen, Sr., where Phoebe worked keeping house.
When Eli Keen, Sr, died in 1850, his son, Eli Keen, Jr, purchased both Phoebe and her daughter, Martha (around 3 years old at the time) from his father’s estate. What no one knew was that Phoebe and Eli, Jr., were in a romantic relationship. Eli purchased Phoebe and her daughter in 1850, they lived together approximately 40 years in the same house as husband and wife and had eight more children together. The couple was never formally married because of Missouri’s anti-miscegenation laws, but they referred to each other as “husband” and wife. The children referred to Eli as pa, and to Phoebe as ma in the presence of anyone in the vicinity, and without objection from Phoebe or Eli.
Eli left land and other holdings to his children in a legally recorded will. However, due to Missouri’s anti-miscegenation law that prohibited his marriage to Phoebe (the children’s mother), courts ruled his children were not legal heirs. His second wife/second Cousin Sophronia Keen whose relationship with Eli is unclear was given most of the estate by the court, generated from her challenging the will. During all their quasi marriage she maintained residence in the state of West Virginia and Eli maintained residence with his family in the state of Missouri.
Eli barely visited Sophronia, and in his will explicitly stated she would forfeit her inheritance from him if she challenged the will.
“This orchestrated misfortune made possible by consciously hostile state statutes toward negroes was successful in destroying 50 plus years – the entire Keen family’s generation of work,” according to a statement from a family representative. Per an Economist, following the language of the will, the total estate with growth and development from 1900 to the present day, “represents a dollar loss to the family in the tens of millions of dollars.”
Our Success
Bruce's Beach
Where Is My Land’s founder, Kavon Ward, spearheaded the successful return of Bruce’s Beach to the Bruce family heirs. This landmark case demonstrated that justice can prevail when communities come together to right historical wrongs.
The Keen family case represents our continued commitment to restoring generational wealth stolen through racist legislation and discriminatory court decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Get answers to common questions about our work
What exactly happened to the Keen family's land?
Eli Keen Jr. left over 1,000 acres to his nine children in his will. However, due to Missouri’s anti-miscegenation laws that prohibited his marriage to Phoebe (the children’s mother), courts ruled his children were not legal heirs. His legal wife Sophronia, who he barely lived with, was allowed to take half the estate despite his will explicitly stating she would forfeit her inheritance if she challenged it.
How can my donation help?
Your contributions fund legal research, court filings, historical documentation, and advocacy efforts to reclaim the Keen family’s stolen land. Funds also support outreach and education about this historic injustice, building public support for the family’s case.
What is Where Is My Land?
Where Is My Land is an organization founded by Kavon Ward that helps Black people discover, search for, identify, and reclaim land taken from them through discriminatory laws and practices. The organization successfully led the return of Bruce’s Beach to the Bruce family heirs.
Why is this case important?
The Keen family case represents tens of millions of dollars in lost generational wealth due to racist laws. Success here sets precedent for thousands of similar cases across America where land was stolen from Black families through legal discrimination. It’s about justice and restoring what was wrongfully taken.
Is this case winnable?
Yes. The Bruce’s Beach case proved that historical land theft can be remedied. We have extensive documentation of Eli Keen Jr.’s clear intent to leave the land to his children, the discriminatory nature of the laws used to deny them, and expert legal and historical support backing the family’s claim.