Josephine Wright, who resisted development of family’s Gullah land on Hilton Head Island, dies at 94

By JAMES POLLARD
Associated Press/Report for America

A woman on South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island who drew national attention from such stars as Tyler Perry and Snoop Dogg as she fought off developers in her final years has died at 94. A family publicist says Josephine Wright died Sunday at her Hilton Head home. Wright had been fighting a lawsuit from an investment firm that sued her last year. The company alleged her property encroached on their proposed 147-unit neighborhood near land her late husband’s family had owned for over a century. Wright had moved decades ago from New York City to the historic Gullah neighborhood of Jonesville — named for a Black Civil War veteran who escaped slavery and purchased land there.