The city of Atlanta is working to buy 75 acres of land to honor those who died while working as slaves after the Civil War.

Historians said that after the Civil War prisoners were used as slaves to rebuild the South. Many of them worked at The Chattahoochee Brick Company in orthwest Atlanta.

City leaders said it’s time to honor them.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said, “We will preserve green space along the Chattahoochee river and create an appropriate memorial to remember.”

Historians said the owner, who went on to become Atlanta’s mayor, used incarcerated men, women and children to make bricks.

Many of those people died under harsh working conditions.

Donna Stephens is with the Chattahoochee Brick Company Descendant’s Coalition. She’s been fighting for the city to buy the 75 acres of land along the Chattahoochee River and Interstate 285.

“I can’t thank them enough, I’m just full of gratitude, and our ancestors are full of gratitude,” Stephens said.

Atlanta Councilman Dustin Hillis said Monday the city council agreed to buy the land and stopped the current owner from putting a railroad yard on the property.

He says they want to use the land for green space, but to also remember what happened here.

Hillis said it will cost the city $10 million to $20 million to buy the land.