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Where Reparations Stand in the U.S. Where Reparations Stand in the U.S.
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After 50 years in slavery, Belinda Sutton was freed and given a pension drawn from the estate of the man who had enslaved her, but it was not out of his generosity. Sutton, a native of Ghana, had to go to court to receive an income for her work, performed on an estate near Boston. And she had to keep returning, to enforce the legal decision that she would be paid.After 50 years in slavery, Belinda Sutton was freed and given a pension drawn from the estate of the man who had enslaved her, but it was not out of his generosity. Sutton, a native of Ghana, had to go to court to receive an income for her work, performed on an estate near Boston. And she had to keep returning, to enforce the legal decision that she would be paid.
Her struggle in 1783 to win repayment — one of the earliest known cases in the United States — foreshadowed the difficulties that formerly enslaved people and their descendants face in seeking similar compensation.Her struggle in 1783 to win repayment — one of the earliest known cases in the United States — foreshadowed the difficulties that formerly enslaved people and their descendants face in seeking similar compensation.
Black Americans have made a renewed case for reparations that would redress slavery, post-Civil War landowning restrictions for the newly freed, Jim Crow laws, redlining, discriminatory lending practices and employment discrimination.Black Americans have made a renewed case for reparations that would redress slavery, post-Civil War landowning restrictions for the newly freed, Jim Crow laws, redlining, discriminatory lending practices and employment discrimination.
The first state-level task force to consider reparations, in California, officially submitted a sweeping report that recommended a formal apology and called for payments to eligible Black residents.The first state-level task force to consider reparations, in California, officially submitted a sweeping report that recommended a formal apology and called for payments to eligible Black residents.
Despite pockets of momentum in various cities, the fight for reparations is an uphill struggle.
Reparations are measures that seek to rectify a heinous injustice with an acknowledgment and an apology. In this context, they refer to an attempt to remedy the unpaid labor of millions of Africans who arrived in the English North American colonies as human chattel. Their work was vital to the accumulation of American capital, but neither they nor their descendants shared in the benefits.
The goal of any reparations plan today is to compensate the 40 million descendants of the enslaved people and, in theory, to narrow the disparities caused by slavery.