Why an American Muslim Mother of Seven Was Jailed in a Battle Over Ancestral Land
Photo Source: Fajr DeLane via Instagram
At a Lafayette detention center in Mississippi, an American Muslim woman from Athens, Georgia, was held in civil contempt and jailed for two weeks after denying a judge’s orders to sign a quitclaim over alleged ancestral property. Jennine Labuzan-DeLane is a mother of seven and an African American alumna of Howard University. She was detained for fighting to regain ownership of 1,361 acres of ancestral property located in Washington County, Mississippi. Labuzan-DeLane claims it belonged to her third-generation grandfather, Charles Augustus Labuzan.
Jennine had a keen interest in learning about her family history and discovering her genealogical roots. Stories from her grandparents about family property encouraged her search, during which she discovered that her ancestor, Charles Augustus Lebuzan, had acquired an official government land grant back in 1840. In September 2022, representing herself, Jennine filed a lawsuit seeking to evict everyone currently occupying the land, arguing that, as his direct heir, she rightfully owned the property under the original land grant.
Court records show that in August 1836, Mr. Lebuzan and two business partners bought over 1,300 acres in Washington County, Mississippi, directly from the federal government, with Mr. Lebuzan owning a one-quarter share. A formal government land patent was issued to the men in December 1840 and later recorded in local land books. This type of land grant gave the owners complete, permanent ownership, explicitly stating that the property was meant for them and their heirs forever. To support her case, Jennine pointed to established legal principles showing that a direct government land grant is the strongest possible proof of ownership, overriding any later claims to the property. She argued that language in the patent “to their heirs forever” proved the land was meant to remain in her family for eternity.
Conversely, the current landholders claimed that Charles Lebuzan sold his share of the property in the 1840s and was no longer the rightful owner. Jennine fought back, arguing that the signature on the 1846 sale document was forged, meaning the land could not have been legally taken from her family. The defense acknowledged that the signature was not an original pen stroke, but asserted that in those days, before photocopiers existed, county clerks had to handwrite copies of all deeds into official record books. The judge ultimately sided with the defense, ruling that Jennine had no proof the court clerk committed any crime or fraud when recording the sale copy over 170 years ago.
During the mid-1800s, land ownership by Black Americans was rare, as systemic racism and a lack of legal protections stripped many families of their property. Dispossession was conducted through various means. Over generations, Black families lost millions of acres of land not only through state-sanctioned violence and intimidation, but through discriminatory banking practices, denied farm benefits, which were often funneled instead to white farmers, predatory land sales, unequal tax assessments, and biased government credit policies. By the late 1990s, Black farmers had lost over 90 percent of the land they once held, severely damaging generational wealth and security for Black families.
The court ultimately dismissed her lawsuit, ruling that her claim had no legal standing. The judge pointed to certified records proving the land had been legally sold in 1848, concluding her demands to remove the current occupants were baseless. The judge explicitly warned Jennine against continuing her fight to claim the land, threatening financial penalties if she persisted. She was ordered to drop her claims and sign official paperwork surrendering any rights to the property to clear up the land’s title, which she firmly refused to obey.
Because of that refusal, federal law enforcement stepped in. On June 6, 2026, Jennine was arrested by U.S. Marshals and held in a Mississippi detention facility for two weeks. Even while detained, she refused to sign away her family’s rights. According to Capital B News, on June 23, the day of her release from jail, she stood her ground and refused to relinquish claim to her family’s land. Seeing that detention wouldn’t break her resolve, the judge issued an order that stripped Jennine of any legal claim to the property by judicial decree, officially closing the case without need for her signature.
Jennine Lebuzan’s story highlights how even when an individual presents official records proving legal rights to generational property and family wealth, the enduring spirit of historical subversion and anti-Black culture and practices continues to make reclaiming family land nearly impossible.
Khadijah White