The Root's Guide to the Centuries Long Fight for Reparations

Jessica Washington

January 19, 2024 at 3:44 PM·10 min read

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WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 16: Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) speaks at a press conference on H.R. 40 legislation as Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) looks on on Capitol Hill on November 16, 2021 in Washington, DC. During the press conference participants called on the legislation to be passed which would then create a commission to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans.

The battle for reparations for Black Americans has been raging since the civil war. And in recent years that fight has been heating-up across the country. There is a lot to keep-up with, which is why The Root has you covered with our reparations guide!

Tulsa Massacre Victims and Descendants Demand Reparations

WASHINGTON DC, UNITED STATES - JUNE 18: 109 year old survivor of the Tulsa Race massacre Viola Fletcher speaks about her memoir in Washington D.C., United States on June 18, 2023. Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the US commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans.

In the summer of 1921, white rioters aided and abetted by local officials destroyed “Black Wall Street” an affluent Black community in Tulsa, OK. Roughly 800 people were injured and 300 people were killed. Now, victims of the Tulsa Race massacre and their descendants are demanding reparations to help them get back what was lost in the horrific massacre.

Aug. 24, 2018, file photo, Black Voters Matter Fund co-founders, LaTosha Brown, left, and Cliff Albright, right, lead Mississippi grassroots partners in some empowerment cheers aboard a bus tour to Greenville, Miss.

In June, Black Voters Matter, a voting rights organization, launched their “Black Reparations Fund.” The fund doesn’t provide cash payouts to Black Americans. Instead, the group will give grants to “grassroots” groups working to research and fund reparations projects.

$50 M Awarded To Descendants in Minnesota and Dakotas

The Bush Foundation announced that they’d committed $50 million to descendants of formerly enslaved people in Minnesota and the Dakotas. The Foundation made it very clear that this wasn’t a reparations program, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth talking about in the broader reparations conversation.

California Moves Forward With Reparations

In California, the fight for reparations is underway. Last month, the state’s reparations task force approved a series of reparations proposals, including cash payments and homeownership grants, for the state legislature to review.

San Francisco’s Reparation’s Plan

Now here’s the plan everyone wants to know about. San Francisco made massive waves after city officials approved a draft proposal, which included a $5 million per person payout for qualified descendants of formerly enslaved people. Although that part of the draft plan doesn’t seem super likely to be enacted, the proposal includes 100 recommendations aimed at benefiting Black San Franciscans.

The Fight for Reparations in Congress

Rep. Cori Bush

Representative Cori Bush introduced a resolution to give $14 million in reparations to the descendants of formerly enslaved Africans. But she’s not the only person working on Capitol Hill to bring us reparations.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 27: Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) joins fellow House Democrats for a news conference to announce a bicameral resolution recognizing Banned Books Week outside the U.S. Capitol on September 27, 2023 in Washington, DC. Banned Book Week runs October 1-7.

Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) introduced legislation that would give $14 trillion in reparations for slavery to Black Americans, including free college attendance at HBCUs.

Congressional Reparations Commission Bill

Photo: Kent Nishimura / Contributor (Getty Images)

Last year, Senator Cory Booker and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee re-introduced legislation to form a commission to study proposals for reparations for African American descendants of slavery.

Where Did 40 Acres and a Mule Come From?

Black farmer

While we’ve got you. Here’s a history lesson. After the civil war, union leader met with Black leaders in Savanah, Georgia. Following the meeting, General William Sherman signed Field Order 15, which decreed that roughly 400,000 acres of confiscated Confederate land be given to the Black families that had been forced to tend to it. As a part of the order, 40 acres of “tillable” land was to be given to each Black family. Some families were also supposed to be given mules, hence the “40 acres and a mule” thing.

The First City to Enact Reparations

In 2021, Evanston, Illinois, a suburb outside of Chicago, became the first city to fund reparations. Black residents were allotted $25,000 grants towards promoting homeownership. And in March, the city voted to increase the number of uses for the $25,000 grants.

Boston’s Reparations Plan

Young Black man in Boston

Boston might not be top of mind when it comes to reparations, but the city has made some pretty major strides in that department. Late last year, the Boston City Council unanimously voted to form a task force to study how to provide reparations to Black Bostonians.

Providence Funds Reparations

Another name you might not have been expecting in the reparations conversation is Providence, Rhode Island. In December, the city approved a $10 million budget for the city’s reparations program. Although it doesn’t include direct payments, it will fund a host of programs like workforce development training and homeownership funds aimed at helping the Black community.

Georgetown University Announces $400K Reparations Plan

WASHINGTON DC - OCTOBER 3 Students at Georgetown University mades signs and protested for the school to make amends for its history, with reparations funded by student fees to be directed to charities benefiting descendants of enslaved people, outside a Board of Directors meeting held on campus in Washington DC on October 3, 2019.

In 2019, George University announced that they would raise $400,000 per year to benefit descendants of the enslaved people who were sold to make a profit for the school.

The Modern Fight for Reparations

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates might not have been the first person to come up with the modern concept of reparations. But his 2014 Atlantic essay, The Case for Reparations, certainly helped push the reparations into the mainstream discourse.

Rosewood Massacre

Robie Mortin, 92, is pictured on Nov. 5, 2007 in West Palm Beach, Fla. Mortin, who was 8-years-old when her family left Rosewood, Fla.,

In 1994, Florida approved over 2 million in reparations for the survivors of the 1923 Rosewood Massacre, which decimated the Black community in Rosewood.

What Happened to Reparations Post-Civil War?

19th November 1863: Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States of America, making his famous ‘Gettysburg Address’ speech at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery during the American Civil War. Original Artwork: Painting by Fletcher C Ransom

Obviously, Black families never received their 40 acres. So what gives? Well, after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson reversed Field Order 15 and gave the land to former slave owners.

Tuskegee Settlement

In this May 16, 1997, file photo, President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, background, help Herman Shaw, 94, a Tuskegee Syphilis Study victim, during a news conference in Washington.

In 1974, the U.S. government agreed to pay $10 million to the victims of the Tuskegee experiment. A group of Black men were experimented upon without their consent in an incredibly inhumane study to see what happens if syphilis is left untreated.

Rep. John Conyers Brings The Fight To Congress

Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., shown in his office at the Capitol, as announced that he will challenge Rep. Carl Albert, D-Okla.m for Speaker because Albert has not taken a stand on a bid by House liberals to strip Mississippi congressmen of their seniority. Albert had been unopposed.

In 1989, Congressman John Conyers introduced a bill to create the Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act.

The Black Manifesto

James Foreman, executive secretary of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee, left, Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and activist-singer Harry Belafonte appear during a press conference in Atlanta on April 30, 1965.

In May of 1969, Black Americans gathered in Detroit at the National Black Economic Development Conference. At the conference Former Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee former executive director James Foreman called for reparations for slavery and for continued discrimination against Black Americans.

Henrietta Wood

Barbara Martin looks at a display about slavery in Mobile, Ala., on Monday, Aug. 26, 2019.

While it’s hard to call giving one person restitution reparations in the modern sense, Henrietta Wood’s case is often included in discussions around reparations. In 1878, Wood won $2,500 in reparations from a white enslaver who’d kidnapped the free woman and forced her into slavery in Kentucky decades earlier. At the time, this was the largest ever reparations payment for slavery.

Southern Homestead Act

Los Angeles, CaliforniaSept. 22, 2022Los Angeles long-time resident, Walter Foster, age 80, holds up a sign as the Reparations Task Force meets to hear public input on reparations at the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Sept. 22, 2022

In 1866, there was one small attempt at something resembling reparations for formerly enslaved people. The law allowed formerly enslaved people in the south to purchase land at “reasonable rates” within a 6 month period. The problem was that not many formerly enslaved people were able to afford to buy property, which meant that very few of the intended beneficiaries actually benefited.

Belinda Royall

NEW YORK - AUGUST 9: Lindi Bobb, 6, attends a slavery reparations protest outside New York Life Insurance Company offices August 9, 2002 in New York City.

Before there was Henrietta Wood, there was Belinda Royall. In 1783, Royall, who was sold into slavery as a child to Isaac Royall, was awarded a pension by his estate. His estate had to pay her 15 pounds and 12 shillings.

Reparations For Other Crimes Committed By The United States

FORT SILL, OK - JUNE 22: Agroup of Japanese Americans who held in concentration camps in WWII pose with photos of themselves, during a press conference on June 22, 2019 i

The list of people directly harmed by the United States is pretty long. And in some cases the U.S. federal government has paid reparations to those groups, meaning the concept isn’t inconceivable. Here’s a short list of those reparations.

Japanese Internment Reparations

San Francisco, California. Exclusion Order posted at First and Front Streets directing removal of persons of Japanese ancestry from the first San Francisco section to be effected by the evacuation 4/11/1942.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which provided $1.2 billion in reparations along with an apology to 60,000 Japanese-Americans who’d been interned during World War II.

Native American Reparations

OKMULGEE, OKLAHOMA - July 21: The Muscogee Creek Nation District Court is seen in Okmulgee, Oklahoma on July 21, 2021.

This is another famous reparations case. In 2016, the U.S Federal government settled with 17 Native American tribes for $492 million.

Enslavers Received Reparations

Flyer announcing a slave sale, 1859, United States. (Photo by: Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Now here’s a group that does not fit into the wronged people who received reparations category. Formerly enslaved people were never paid reparations on any meaningful scale, but one surprising group was. In parts of the country, enslavers were actually paid reparations for the people they kept enslaved.

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