Great-granddaughter of Piedmont’s first Black residents, forced out by ‘terror campaign,’ sues city

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The lawsuit alleges Piedmont used false road construction claims to force the Black Dearing family out in 1924, with 500 residents involved in harassment, according to historical reports.

LeftCenterRightGround G Logo Light Bias ComparisonGround G Logo Bias ComparisonOn Feb. 2, Jordana Ackerman, plaintiff and great-granddaughter of Sidney Dearing, sued Piedmont in Alameda County Superior Court alleging the 1924 condemnation was fraudulent and racially motivated.Upon moving into the Wildwood Avenue house, Sidney Dearing and Irène Dearing faced harassment from Piedmont residents, including a mob of 500 demanding they sell, drive-by shootings, KKK threats, and dynamite bombings.Then-Piedmont Mayor Oliver Ellsworth told the Oakland Tribune the condemnation was `for the improvement of the city as well as to make the negro move from Piedmont`; Piedmont City Attorney Girard Richardson offered thousands less than the house’s value and threatened state court condemnation.The Legal Defense Fund , representing Ackerman, said Piedmont hasn’t yet been served while Piedmont’s reckoning initiative started in 2022 with a Walter Hood-designed memorial and a $400,000 contract approved last month.The suit links long-term harm: less than 1% of Piedmont’s 10,800 residents are Black today and Ackerman’s suit notes the Dearing eviction helped produce a long property ownership gap.Wrench IconDoes this summary seem wrong?