Georgia’s highest court is weighing in on a fight over special protections for one of the South’s last Gullah-Geechee communities of Black people descended from slaves.

Two months after a gangway collapsed on Sapelo Island, killing seven people who had been visiting for the Gullah-Geechee festival on Oct. 19, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources announced that new gangways have been installed for the island’s ferry service.

Records obtained by News4JAX show there were issues with the gangway in Sapelo Island prior to the collapse that killed seven people in late October.

Records obtained by News4JAX show there were issues with the gangway in Sapelo Island prior to the collapse that killed seven people in late October.

Survivors of a deadly walkway collapse at a state-operated ferry dock in Georgia say state officials should help them pay for funerals for the seven people killed as well as medical bills and counseling for those who lived.

There were “no areas of concern” when the gangway was last inspected in December, according to investigators.

The partial collapse of a ferry dock that left seven people dead during an annual cultural festival has left a historic Black community in Georgia struggling with how to move forward.

Four of the victims were from Jacksonville. Two of them were members of the church where the vigil is being held.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has started releasing documents related to a dock gangway collapse in Georgia that killed seven people, including four from Jacksonville.

Civil Rights Lawyer Bakari Sellers is calling for a federal investigation into the cause of the deadly collapse of a boat dock gangway in Georgia, and the lack of resources on the Sapelo Island.

Grieving families say they want answers as to why a metal walkway at a state-operated dock in Georgia collapsed over the weekend, killing seven people.

Prominent Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump stood with grieving families Tuesday morning and demanded justice for the “Sapelo Seven” -- the seven elderly men and women who died over the weekend when a dock gangway collapsed in Georgia.

The oldest of seven victims killed in a dock gangway collapse on Georgia’s Sapelo Island Saturday was a retired special education teacher, her granddaughter told News4JAX.

News4JAX reporter Anne Maxwell spoke with two people who witnessed the scene after a ferry dock gangway collapsed at Sapelo Island and rushed in to help.

A maritime expert is asking questions about what happened at Sapelo Island when seven people were killed after a gangway dock collapsed.

A Jacksonville church identified one of its longtime members as one of the seven victims killed in a dock gangway collapse on Georgia’s Sapelo Island Saturday.

Georgia authorities say they are investigating the catastrophic failure of a dock gangway that collapsed, killing seven on Sapelo Island off the state's Atlantic seacoast.

Eyewitness video from the scene of a deadly gangway collapse at a dock in Georgia shows bystanders jumping into action after 20 people plunged into the water off Sapelo Island.

Georgia authorities say they are investigating the catastrophic failure of a dock gangway that collapsed, killing seven on Sapelo Island off the state's Atlantic seacoast.

Authorities say at least seven people were killed Saturday after part of a ferry dock collapsed on Georgia’s Sapelo Island.

A lawsuit by Black descendants of slaves that challenges zoning changes affecting their island homes is before a Georgia judge, who must decide whether to allow lawyers to amend the civil complaint to avoid having it dismissed.

Lifelong residents of a tiny Georgia island who are descended from slaves are pushing to give voters a chance to override local zoning changes that they say threaten one of the last Gullah-Geechee communities in the U.S. South.

One of the few remaining Gullah-Geechee communities in the U.S. is in another fight to hold onto land owned by residents' families since their ancestors were freed from slavery.

“Nauset’’ & her new calf were sighted off Sapelo Island, Georgia, yesterday. VILANO BEACH, Fla. – We have another right whale baby sighting! Weeks after the first two calves of the season were sighted off the coasts of Florida and Georgia, another baby was spotted Monday, according to NOAA. She and the little one were spotted off Sapelo Island, Georgia. We have a new right whale!