About the Book
This groundbreaking resource moves us from theory to action with a practical plan for reparations.
A surge in interest in black reparations is taking place in America on a scale not seen since the Reconstruction Era. The Black Reparations Project gathers an accomplished interdisciplinary team of scholars—members of the Reparations Planning Committee—who have considered the issues pertinent to making reparations happen. This book will be an essential resource in the national conversation going forward.
The first section of The Black Reparations Project crystallizes the rationale for reparations, cataloguing centuries of racial repression, discrimination, violence, mass incarceration, and the immense black-white wealth gap. Drawing on the contributors’ expertise in economics, history, law, public policy, public health, and education, the second section unfurls direct guidance for building and implementing a reparations program, including draft legislation that addresses how the program should be financed and how claimants can be identified and compensated. Rigorous and comprehensive, The Black Reparations Project will motivate, guide, and speed the final leg of the journey for justice.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Introduction
William A. Darity Jr., A. Kirsten Mullen, and Lucas Hubbard
PART ONE: THE CONTEXT AND CASES FOR REPARATIONS
1 Where Does Black Reparations in America Stand?
William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen
2 Wealth Implications of Slavery and Racial Discrimination for African American Descendants of the Enslaved
Thomas Craemer, Trevor Smith, Brianna Harrison, Trevon D. Logan, Wesley Bellamy, and William A. Darity Jr.
3 Unequal Housing and the Case for Reparations
Walter D. Greason
4 Educational Inequities and the Case for Reparations
Malik Edwards
5 The African American Health Burden: Disproportionate and Unresolved
Keisha L. Bentley-Edwards
PART TWO: THE PATH TO REPARATIONS AND RELATED CONSIDERATIONS
6 Learning from Past Experiences with Reparations
A. Kirsten Mullen and William A. Darity Jr.
7 Considerations for the Design of a Reparations Plan
Trevon D. Logan
8 Reparations and Adult Education: Civic and Community Engagement for Lifelong Learners
Lisa R. Brown
9 The Children of Slavery: Genealogical Research and the Establishment of Eligibility for Reparations
Evelyn A. McDowell
10 On the Black Reparations Highway: Avoiding the Detours
William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen
Appendix A. List of Documented Massacres and Instances of Mob Violence Perpetrated against Black Individuals, Civil War through 1950
Appendix B. Sample Pedigree Chart and Family Group Sheet from Sons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage
The Reparations Planning Committee
Index