I am the descendant of persons who were owned as property as slaves on a plantation, Roselawn, in a small town in South Carolina. Roselawn was a plantation where enslaved persons were its primary, if not exclusive source of farm labor, to its current operation as a working farm. A number of years ago, I visited Roselawn and met Camille, the granddaughter of the last person to operate Roselawn where individuals were enslaved on the plantation. That visit prompted questions of whether I can make a legal claim against Roselawn’s operations as the remaining asset of the former plantation owner.

This is not an article about reparations. Instead, this article is unique in that it examines a legal claim in South Carolina by the descendants of the estate of the former enslaved persons against the operation that enslaved them. This article examines this claim under a legal theory of unjust enrichment while also examining the damages claim under a theory of restorative justice.