LDF Probes Hilton Head Island’s Review of Land Management Policies, Urges Town to Consider Impact on Gullah Geechee, Native Islander Communities

Read a PDF of our statement here.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SC - The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) today announced a series of investigative letters probing the policies and practices surrounding land use, zoning, and development on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. This action comes after town officials established a 21-person task force to review Hilton Head's Land Management Ordinance and prepare recommendations to guide the town's future growth and development.

Across four letters summited to the task force to date, LDF has requested written responses to over a dozen questions related to concerns that Gullah Geechee communities, also referred to as Native Islanders, are not being meaningfully included in decisions that directly impact their land, culture, livelihoods, and future. Participation in the processes is especially important as land use decisions determine how residents can use their property, and for Gullah Geechee communities, those limits can have real economic consequences by restricting income-generating uses among other things.

Gullah Geechee representation on the task force is limited, and the town's Gullah Geechee Land and Cultural Preservation Task Force has no direct involvement in the process until months after deliberations, creating a serious risk that the task force's recommendations will be adopted without the community's meaningful input. This is particularly troubling because Native Islanders comprise some of Hilton Head's oldest property owners and longtime residents. Although they once constituted a majority of the population, the Gullah people now compromise approximately seven percent of the island's inhabitants due to intentional displacement and other issues.

"Our neighbors are once again making decisions for historic Native Islanders without fully including them," said Tai Scott, Hilton Head Island business owner and community activist. "Protecting our land means protecting our culture, right to exist on the island, and economic opportunity. We need the task force to work with the Gullah community and implement changes we have long recommended to ensure we can use and develop our land in the same way officials have allowed our other resort-based neighbors to in other parts of the town."

"In South Carolina and elsewhere, there is a long history of government entities and private developers using legal action and intimidation to take land from Black communities and other under-resourced communities," said Jason Bailey, Senior Counsel at LDF. "We are deeply concerned that the current process of reviewing Hilton Head's land management ordinance does not meaningfully include the voices of residents whose land and day-to-day lives would be directly impacted."

"When families lose their land, they lose a connection to their history, ancestors, and their community," said Leah Aden, Senior Counsel at LDF. "It is critically important to ensure Hilton Head is not moving forward with policy changes that further displace the Gullah Geechee community. We urge the task force in Hilton Head to meaningfully engage with Native Islander communities and not move forward with any land use and zoning policies that will increase their displacement."

As of March 26, 2026, LDF has received only one response from the city which failed to answer the organization's previously raised questions. LDF will continue to monitor the task force and its public meetings, which are scheduled to be held through June 2026.

LDF's letters to Hilton Head Island Land Management Ordinance Task Force can be found here:

• Letter sent on February 24, 2026
• Letter sent on March 6, 2026
• Letter sent on March 13, 2026
• Letter sent on March 26, 2026

###

Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation's first civil rights legal organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957, though it was founded under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall while he was at the NAACP. LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI) is a division of LDF that undertakes innovative research and houses LDF's archive. In all media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF (do not include NAACP) and refer to the Institute as LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute or TMI.