A Beacon Against the Darkness: Descendant Whitney Higgins on Inheritance and Rebuilding

Last January, Whitney Higgins lost her home in last year's Altadena wildfires. Today she is rebuilding with strength drawn from her ancestors she has only recently come to know.

The January 2025 wildfires were the fifth deadliest and second most destructive in California history, displacing families and leaving lasting physical and emotional damage across Altadena. Whitney was among those. She first learned she was a Descendant of Jesuit slaveholding through her older sister's ancestral research — a discovery that reshaped how she understood her family, her inheritance, and her own capacity to endure.

"I want to use my voice to be a beacon and a weapon against the darkness,” she say. “I want to inspire and instill a sense of confidence in other Descendants that this blood runs through your veins, too. Our ancestors — not just those that were enslaved but also those who came after — they made it through the trials they had to face, and we will too.”

At the Los Angeles Urban League (LAUL) 2025 State of Black Los Angeles Conference — themed "Solidarity in Action: Black and Brown LA" — the Whitney and her sisters joined the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation on stage to award $40,000 in grants to LAUL: $20,000 for Altadena wildfire relief and $20,000 for community healing initiatives.

The first award addressed immediate needs for residents still rebuilding their lives. The second funded the slower, equally essential work of healing — rebuilding the social and emotional bonds that disasters fracture. The Foundation was created to address the legacy of Jesuit slaveholding. But repair, if it is real, must extend outward to the communities where Descendants live. Partnering with organizations like LAUL allows us to support locally led efforts where the community understands its own needs best.