Written by Sydney Leiter and Kanchana Balasubramanian
Photo Credit: Visit Athens GA
The Tree that Owns Itself is one of Athens, Georgia’s most iconic landmarks. According to local legend, the white oak was granted property rights in the will of Colonel William H. Jackson in the 1800s. Colonel Jackson loved the tree so much that he wanted to ensure it would never be removed from its place on Dearing and Finley. The tree inherited ownership of itself and the eight-feet of land surrounding it.
Today, a new tree is in its place after the original blew down in 1942. The current tree is a descendent of the original, planted and grown from acorns of the original tree by the Junior Ladies Garden Club of Athens. This new tree still owns itself.
Great lengths have been taken by the residents of Athens to ensure the safety and property rights of the Tree that Owns Itself. The Junior Ladies Garden Club officially adopted the tree in the 1940s and continues to maintain its land. George Foster Peabody paid to install fencing around the tree, further protecting it. The metal plaque quoting Colonel Jackson’s will is cleaned regularly to preserve it.
The property rights of the Tree that Owns Itself have never been questioned.
The Tree that Owns Itself being a property owner stands in stark contrast to the rest of Athens, where the housing market is dominated by real estate development companies, landlords and rentals.
According to the U.S. Census, in 2022, 59.3% of housing in Athens was rented rather than occupied by owners. In a country where home and land ownership are crucial to acquiring wealth, the lack of ownership in Athens is a major concern and a driver of the high levels of poverty we see in town. Athens-Clarke County has a poverty rate of 27%, which is among the highest in the state. While other factors contribute to poverty, residents being unable to own their home helps maintain and perpetuate the cycle of poverty.
Homelessness is also a prevalent issue in Athens, emphasizing the lack of land ownership in the town. According to the 2022 Point In Time count, which records how many homeless individuals are in a town on a single night of the year, there were 283 people experiencing homelessness in Athens, which was the highest its been since at least 2015. Because this is a number recorded from only one day, it is likely an underestimate of the true number of people experiencing homelessness.
One key reason for this increase in homelessness is a lack of affordable housing as housing prices continue to rise in alignment with national trends and as demand for housing in Athens continues to increase.
One driver of this demand for housing – and the increasing rent prices that result from it – is the University of Georgia’s expanding student population. The university continues to increase enrollment and has reached record high enrollment numbers in recent years. Students need somewhere to live, and rental properties recognize this need and increase prices accordingly to match the demand. The demand for housing being greater than the supply gives landlords and rental companies the power to set prices higher, making it so many locals can’t afford rent.
This is on top of national news coverage listing Athens as one of the best places to retire and to start businesses, drawing more people to Athens and further growing the demand for housing.
The property rights of the Tree that Owns Itself also juxtapose the history of dispossession through eminent domain in Athens, particularly at the hands of the University of Georgia and the Board of Regents. Perhaps the most troubling example of this is the displacement of Linnentown, a neighborhood of predominantly Black homeowners, in the 1960s. Residents were kicked out of their homes and inadequately compensated by the state in order for UGA to build more dormitories for its expanding student population. The residents of Linnentown lost their homes and were pushed into public housing and rentals.
Read more about Linnentown in our post What Used to be in Place of UGA Dormitories.
This is not to say that the Tree that Owns Itself should not be protected. Its history predates much of the history of the town and the entire history of the University of Georgia. It should absolutely be protected. However, the property rights of the people of Athens should also be expanded, protected and respected, which has not been the case for much of the town’s history. The comparison between the tree and the people is to show that the rights of a tree have been protected with more enthusiasm and legality than those of the people, especially Athens’s residents of color in cases like Linnentown and other instances of eminent domain.
People with these marginalized identities have less access to housing as a result of a constellation of oppressive and discriminatory conditions caused by the intersection of race and class with property rights. Different forms of oppression are interconnected. One kind of oppression feeds on another, so they frequently co-occur, as seen by the intersectionality of numerous oppressive factors such as race and class. Intersectionality shows how multiple identities create a complicated interaction of injustice and oppression.
The discussion over property rights and access to affordable housing exposes racial and socioeconomic classes as forms of oppression and dominance. Further, the lack of affordable housing among people of color is often made worse by poverty and lower socioeconomic class, which reinforces and interlinks oppressive factors of class and race. This illustration demonstrates the prevalence of discrimination against members of lower socioeconomic classes, people of different races, and residents of color. As bell hooks puts it, we must “become more conscious, to know better so that we can know how best to struggle for economic justice” to confront the class and race issues in Athens housing.
Sources and Suggested Reading:
https://www.visitathensga.com/things-to-do/attractions/the-tree-that-owns-itself/
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts Athens-Clarke County, Georgia
IndexMundi Georgia Poverty Rate by County
Athens-Clarke County, GA Housing Inventory Count & Point-in-Time Count Report
College towns breeding ground for homelessness
Why Rents and Home Prices Have Gotten So High in Athens
UGA continues to break records for enrollment, completion rates
Cuomo, C. (2002). On Ecofeminist Philosophy. Ethics and the Environment, 7(2), 1–11.
Glazebrook, T. (2023). Karen Warren’s Ecofeminism.
Gaard, G. (1997). Toward a Queer Ecofeminism. Hypatia, 12(1), 114–137.
hooks, bell. (1984). Feminist theory from margin to center. South End Press.
hooks, bell. (2000). Where We Stand: Class Matters. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203905104 Hooks, B. (2009). Belonging: A culture of place. Routledge. https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1130000796723034112
Warren, K. J. (1990). The Power and Promise of Ecological Feminism.
Athens Hidden History: Ecofeminism, land and people 