Reparations, Slavery

What Supporters Say

Some supporters justify slavery reparations with arguments pertaining to promises of land for the newly freed slaves shortly after the Civil War. General William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field [Page 1149]Order No. 15, which set aside land in the South for the freedmen. Forty acres were to be distributed to each head of a former slave family. The term Forty Acres and a Mule, which is a rallying slogan for reparations supporters, originates from Sherman's order. Even though Sherman never specifically mentioned mules, some believe that the army may have distributed them to help the freedmen till the land. However, after President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson became president, the order was reversed and the land was redirected to Whites.

After emancipation, the lives of the former slaves did not change that much. Although the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments were passed to provide equal rights and protection under the law for the newly freed slaves as U.S. citizens, equality was not the reality. Black Codes and Jim Crow laws were instituted so that options were limited for Blacks. Many continued working on the plantations for White landowners. Blacks and Whites were segregated socially and legally.

Moreover, violence against Blacks did not stop with emancipation. The lynching and murder of Blacks also continued, and race riots in Chicago, Illinois (1919); Tulsa, Oklahoma (1921); and Rosewood, Florida (1923), left many Blacks dead or victimized by White rioters. In addition, even though there has been ample opportunity to do so, the U.S. government still has not formally apologized for slavery, and recent legislative proposals by Congress to do so have not been supported either.

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