

At a Glance
Language
English — USSubject
- History
- Social Studies
Grade
6–12- Democracy & Civic Engagement
- Human & Civil Rights
- Racism
Overview
About This Mini-Lesson
As long as the United States has existed, so too has the question of whether (and how) the government should grant reparations for slavery and other racist policies. As early as 1783, Belinda Sutton, who had been enslaved by the Royall family in Massachusetts, petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for financial reparations and was granted them. 1 After the Civil War, Congress considered several reparations programs. In 1865, General Sherman famously promised formerly enslaved people “40 acres and a mule,” but the land was returned to former slaveholders within a year. Now, the debate over reparations has gained momentum once again, as the country marks 400 years since the beginning of slavery in the British American colonies, and as many Democratic Party presidential candidates are endorsing the idea in their platforms.
This mini-lesson is designed to help students consider what we mean by the term reparations, what form reparations programs can take, and what reparations could be offered for slavery and other racist policies.
- 1Manisha Sinha, “The Long History of American Slavery Reparations,” The Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2019.
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