Anthony Johnson

Reference: National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)  

On March 8, 1775, Thomas Paine publishes “African Slavery in America” in the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser

That some desperate wretches should be willing to steal and enslave men by violence and murder for gain is rather lamentable than strange. . ...READ MORE

Belinda’s Petition

From an exhibit of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC): Belinda’s Petition Little is known about Belinda’s personal life, beyond her..READ MORE

In 1797, the US Congress rejects the North Carolina Slave Petition, the first recorded petition for an end to slavery by freed Blacks.

Reference: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/community/text4/text4read.htm

In 1829, in his “Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World,” David Walker asserts that “the White Christian Americans” were the most cruel and barbarous people who have ever lived.

Reference:  Molefi Kete Asante, The African American Warrant for Reparations:  The Crime of European Enslavement of Africans and Its Consequences,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and..READ MORE

On March 6, 1857, the US Supreme Court decides Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393, declaring that persons of African descent cannot be, nor were ever intended to be, citizens under the U.S. Constitution.

Excluded from US citizenship (see timeline entry for March 6, 1857), persons of African descent were nationals of their places of origin, it is submitted,..READ MORE

Former American Slaveholders who did not join the confederacy receive reparations

Were US Slave Owners Really Paid $300 Per Slave?   In the latest reminder of why you shouldn’t get your history from twitter, a series..READ MORE

In January of 1865, Major General W. T. Sherman issues Special Field Order No. 15, reserving land confiscated from rebellious landowners in for settlement by Africans freed under President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Each family was to be given a plot of up to 40 acres of tillable ground, and the Government would lend mules to work the land. The order confiscates, as Federal property, a strip of coastline stretching from Charleston, South Carolina to the St. John’s River in Florida, including Georgia’s Sea Islands and the mainland thirty miles in from the coast (including Harris Neck, Georgia; see timeline entry for September 2, 1865).

Reference: Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Excerpt from Black Exodus: The Ex-Slave Pension Movement Reader,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A. Winbush, PhD..READ MORE

On March 3, 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau is created by an act of Congress. According to Section 4 of the first Freedmen’s Bureau Act, the agency “shall have authority to set apart for use of loyal refugees and Freedmen such tracts of land within the insurrectionary states as shall have been abandoned or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation or sale, or otherwise; and to every male citizen, whether refugee or Freeman, as aforesaid there shall be assigned not more than forty acres of land.”

    Reference:  http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/fbact.htm Congressmember John Conyers Jr. with Jo Ann Nichols Watson, Reparations: An Idea Whose Time Has Come,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the..READ MORE

Andrew Johnson begins withholding support for the Freedmen’s Bureau and withdrawing commitments made by President Lincoln in negotiations with Frederick Douglass

In Spring of 1865, after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson begins withholding support for the Freedmen’s Bureau and withdrawing commitments made..READ MORE

By June of 1865, some 40,000 Freedmen had been allocated 400,000 acres of land.

    Reference: Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Excerpt from Black Exodus: The Ex-Slave Pension Movement Reader,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

By September of 1865, President Johnson has begun the process of rescinding title to the land granted to Freedmen and returning land to former plantation owners.

    Reference: Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Excerpt from Black Exodus: The Ex-Slave Pension Movement Reader,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

Despite the reversal of the Major General W. T. Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15 (see timeline entry for January 16, 1865), former slave Robert Dellegall is bequeathed former plantation lands, which become the home of a Gullah community on Harris Neck, Georgia from 1865 to 1942.

In February 1866, the Second Freedmen’s Bureau Act, including provisions for setting aside tracts of land, is vetoed. Land already distributed to Freedmen is reclaimed by the Federal government and routed to former slaveholders.

    Reference: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/united-states-and-canada/us-history/freedmens-bureau http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/frohnen-the-american-nation-primary-sources Congressmember John Conyers Jr. with Jo Ann Nichols Watson, Reparations: An Idea Whose Time Has Come,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and..READ MORE

On April 9, 1866, the US Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, granting citizenship and equal rights to Black Americans.

    Reference: http://spartacus-educational.com/USAcivil1866.htm Harper’s Magazine, November 2000, Does America Owe a Debt to the Descendants of its Slaves?,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging..READ MORE

In 1866, the US Congress passes the Southern Homestead Act to provide Freedmen with land in Southern states at a cost of $5 for eighty acres. Only 1,000 Freedmen receive homesteads.

    Reference:  Harper’s Magazine, November 2000, Does America Owe a Debt to the Descendants of its Slaves? in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging..READ MORE

In 1867, Republican US House Representative Thaddeus Stevens proposes H.R. 29, a slave-reparations bill, which promises each freed adult male slave forty acres of land and $100 to build a dwelling.

    Reference: Harper’s Magazine, November 2000, Does America Owe a Debt to the Descendants of its Slaves? in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate..READ MORE

On July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the US Constitution is adopted, nullifying the US Supreme Court’s decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) with this language: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

    Reference:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Bishop Henry McNeal Turner (bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1880 to 1915; Georgia legislator during Reconstruction; U.S. Army chaplain; newspaper editor; civil rights and back-to-Africa activist; African missionary; and early proponent of black theology) calls for reparations from the US Federal Government.

    Reference:  Congressmember John Conyers Jr. with Jo Ann Nichols Watson, Reparations: An Idea Whose Time Has Come,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging..READ MORE

In 1890, Nebraska Democrat Walter Vaughan, son of Alabama slaveholders, convinces his Congressmember, Republican William J. Connell, to introduce the ex-slave pension bill in 1890. Frederick Douglass was one of few supporters, and it was defeated.

Vaughan eventually publishes a pamphlet called “Freedmen’s Pension Bill: A Plea for American Freedom.” Some 10,000 copies find their way into Black communities in the..READ MORE

In 1891, Callie House comes across Walter Vaughan’s pamphlet entitled “Freedmen’s Pension Bill: A Plea for American Freedom” and helps to formulate the call for reparations.

    Reference: Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Excerpt from Black Exodus: The Ex-Slave Pension Movement Reader in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations (ed. Raymond..READ MORE

The Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association of the United States is established.

The Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association of the United States is established in 1894 in Nashville, Tennessee. Rev. I. H. Dickerson, General Manager,..READ MORE

Elected in 1896, George H. White is the last African American Reconstruction-era Member of Congress and the last Member who had been enslaved to sit in the US House of Representatives. White is able to obtain back-pay for Black Civil War veterans, but is unable to get even a hearing for a Federal anti-lynching bill.

    Reference: Congressmember John Conyers Jr. with Jo Ann Nichols Watson, Reparations: An Idea Whose Time Has Come,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate..READ MORE

Through the efforts of the Association, over 600,000 previously enslaved Africans join the movement and petition the US Congress “to pension every negro who was emancipated. And if the negro is dead give it to his child, if his child is dead give it to his grand child.” (Notice for convention of Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association held in Columbia, Tennessee, March 24-27, 1899)

  Reference:  Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement in Should America Pay?:..READ MORE

In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is established.

  Reference:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAACP

In 1910, Walter L. Fleming publishes an article entitled “Ex-Slave Pension ‘Frauds” in which he credits Walter Vaughan with having an honest pension lobbying operation, but condemns other groups as engaged in fraud.

  Reference: Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Excerpt from Black Exodus: The Ex-Slave Pension Movement Reader,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A. Winbush,..READ MORE

In 1915, the US Treasury Department is sued for $68 million in remuneration for labor performed under slavery. The US Government dismisses the case on grounds of sovereign immunity.

  Reference: Johnson v. McAdoo,45 App. D.C. 440 (1916)

East St. Louis Massacre

In Truth and Reconciliation, First Things First—The Truth   David RaglandCori BushMelinda Salazar posted Aug 16, 2017 “The past must be examined closely, I believe,..READ MORE

By 1917, using the fraud characterization developed by Walter Fleming and others, the Federal Government has effectively shut down the ex-slave pension movement by prosecuting and convicting Callie House and others. The theory is that Callie House and others were acting fraudulently by collecting money to fund a lobbying effort that instilled a false hope in ex-slaves that the Government would give them a pension.

Did the US Government’s suppression of the ex-slave pension movement toll the operation of any statute of limitations applicable to reparations claims? * See timeline..READ MORE

In 1917, Marcus Garvey establishes a Universal Negro Improvement Association branch in the United States.

  Reference:  http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/garvey.htm

The Shoshones were paid over $6 million for land illegally seized from them (although it was only half the appraised value of the land) (Race, Racism, and Reparations by J. Angelo Corlett, 2003, Cornell University Press, p. 170).

In July 1942, the US Government confiscates 2,687 acres at Harris Neck, Georgia (see timeline entry for September 2, 1865) for the stated purpose of building an Army airfield.

Inhabitants are given three weeks to move off their land. Crops, houses, and all other buildings (with the exceptions of the FAB Church of Harris..READ MORE

In 1955, Queen Mother Audley Moore founds the Reparations Committee of Descendants of United States Slaves.

    Reference: Harper’s Magazine, November 2000, Does America Owe a Debt to the Descendants of its Slaves?,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on..READ MORE

The Pawnees were awarded more than $1 million in a suit brought before the Indian Claims Commission for land taken from them in Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri (Race, Racism, and Reparations by J. Angelo Corlett, 2003, Cornell University Press, p. 170).

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X make the demand for reparations through Muhammad Speaks, the print voice of the Nation of Islam.

  Reference: Conrad W. Worrill, The National Black United Front and the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A. Winbush,..READ MORE

Georgia restored many Cherokee landmarks, a newspaper plant, and other buildings in New Echota. It also repealed its repressive anti-Native American laws of 1830 (Race, Racism, and Reparations by J. Angelo Corlett, 2003, Cornell University Press, p. 170).

In 1962, Queen Mother Audley Moore and Dara Abubakari deliver a petition to the United Nations demanding the United States be made to pay reparations. Queen Mother Audley Moore champions reparations for over sixty years. She is considered the High Priestess of the Reparations Movement and formed, with Dara Abubakari, the Reparations Committee of Descendants of United States Slaves, Inc.

  Reference:  Conrad W. Worrill, The National Black United Front and the Reparations Movement,inShould America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

In 1962, Queen Mother Audley Moore’s Reparations Committee of Descendants of United States Slaves files a claim in California.

      Reference:  Jessie Carney Smith, Epic Lives(Detroit, Michigan: Visible Ink Press 1993) at p. 377

In a 1963 interview conducted by Alex Haley for Playboy magazine, Malcolm X proposes that, in return for the economic wealth that enslaved Africans brought to the US, government should give their descendants land and resources.

  Reference:  Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Excerpt from Black Exodus: The Ex-Slave Pension Movement Reader,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

Created in 1966 by the founders of the Black Panther Party, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, the Ten-Point Program (also known as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense Ten-Point Platform and Program) is released on May 15, 1967 in the second issue of the Party’s weekly newspaper The Black Panther.

The Program called for, among other things, the power to determine the destiny of the Black Community; full employment; decent housing; an immediate end to..READ MORE

In 1967, the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) is established.

Founders include the American Baptist Home Mission Societies, two bodies within the United Methodist Church, the Executive Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church, two bodies..READ MORE

In November–December 1967, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) holds a five-day planning meeting in Frogmore, South Carolina. With the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the group agrees to organize a civil disobedience campaign in Washington, D.C., focused on jobs and income.

  Reference:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign https://alchetron.com/Poor-People’s-Campaign#demo

On December 4, 1967, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) announces the Poor People’s Campaign (see timeline entry for November 27–December 1, 1967).

  Reference:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign

In February 1968, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. announces specific demands: $30 billion for antipoverty, full employment, guaranteed income, and the annual construction of 500,000 affordable residences.

Reference:  http://nowcrj.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/King-Speech-Excerpts-1968-03-18-FINAL.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign  

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) hosts some 80 representatives in Atlanta, Georgia at the so-called Minority Group Conference in preparation for the Poor People’s Campaign (see timeline entry for December 4, 1967).

  Reference:  http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Poor_People%27s_Campaign

On April 4, 1968, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.  

On April 16–17, 1968, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), now led by Ralph Abernathy, holds a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, resolving to proceed with the Poor People’s Campaign (see timeline entry for December 4, 1967) and reorienting the campaign away from civil disobedience and toward the creation of a tent city in Washington, D.C.

  Reference:  https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/poor-peoples-campaign https://www.vox.com/2017/1/16/14271074/poor-peoples-campaign-mlk-protest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign

The Committee of 100 is formed to lobby for the Poor People’s Campaign (see timeline entry for December 4, 1967) in advance of the arrival of thousands for Resurrection tent city.

The Committee demands an Economic Bill of Rights with five planks: “A meaningful job at a living wage” “A secure and adequate income” for all..READ MORE

On Sunday May 12, 1968, Mothers’ Day, demonstrators led by Coretta Scott King begin a two-week protest in support of the Poor People’s Campaign (see timeline entry for December 4, 1967) in Washington, D.C., demanding an Economic Bill of Rights.

    Reference:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign

In May 1968, nine major caravans of poor people gather and prepare to converge on Washington, D.C. in support of the Poor People’s Campaign (see timeline entry for December 4, 1967).

*See timeline entry for December 4, 1967   Reference:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign

On May 21, 1968, a tent city known as Resurrection City” is set up in support of the Poor People’s Campaign (see timeline entry for December 4, 1967), lasting for six weeks.

  Reference:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign

Bayard Rustin publishes an Economic Bill of Rights in the New York Times

On June 5, 1968, Bayard Rustin publishes an Economic Bill of Rights in the New York Times in support of the Poor People’s Campaign (see..READ MORE

In 1968, the Republic of New Africa makes a reparations demand, demanding payment of $400 billion in damages for slavery. (Lisa N. Nealy & Pfizer Shellow, Our Land is a’comin and Our Mule is on de Way, Research paper submitted to the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, Wash., D.C., 2002)

  Reference:  Lisa N. Nealy & Pfizer Shellow,Our Land is a’comin and Our Mule is on de Way,Research paper submitted to the National Black Caucus..READ MORE

Lucius Walker, executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), decides to host the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC), and NBEDC meets April 25-27, 1969 at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 118

James Forman, director of international affairs for Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), introduces the Black Manifesto at the meeting, at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, of the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC). NBEDC endorses the Manifesto.

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 118

James Forman, director of international affairs for Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC); Lucius Walker, executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO); and 25 members of the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) meet with leaders of the Episcopal Church to present the Black Manifesto.

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 118

The Black Manifesto

On May 4, 1969, James Forman, director of international affairs for Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), interrupts Sunday services at the Riverside Church in New..READ MORE

James Forman presents the Black Manifesto at denominational headquarters and Protestant institutions, including a nailing of a copy of the Manifesto to the doors of the national headquarters of the Lutheran Church in America.

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at pp. 119-20

On May 6, 1969, the National Committee of Black Churchmen (NCBC) issues a statement in support of the Black Manifesto, calling James Forman a modern-day prophet.

  Reference: Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 124

At Union Theological Seminary, students shut down an administrative wing until allowed to speak to the board of directors in support of the Black Manifesto. On May 15, 1969, the board resolves to invest $500,000 of endowment monies in Black enterprises in neighboring Harlem, to try to raise $1 million to finance the Seminary’s involvement in community projects, and to ask each board member to contribute to a special fund.

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 122

The Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. responds to the Black Manifesto, not using the term reparations, by giving funds to the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) for support of program possibilities, including those which develop as a result of the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC).

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 121

The Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus demands that the Unitarian Universalists invest $5 million in Manifesto projects. The denomination responds by offering to invest $ 1.6 million in projects with high social value.

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 123

Black Methodists for Church Renewal (BMCR) endorse reparations in May 1969. BMCR creates demands, including $750,000 for the Black Economic Development Conference (BEDC), presents these to the Methodist Board of Missions. The executive committee of the board establishes $1.3 million for economic empowerment.

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 123

The National Council of Churches (NCC) responds to the Black Manifesto by appointing a sixteen-member committee to negotiate with the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) and to bring program recommendations to the NCC.

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 124

On July 11, 1969, the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) formally becomes the Black Economic Development Conference (BEDC).

  Reference:  Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 121

In September 1969, the Episcopal Church convenes a Special General Convention.

Some Black participants insist that the Convention allocate $200,000 to the Black Economic Development Conference (BEDC) as a first reparations installment. The Convention recognizes the..READ MORE

In 1972, Mary Frances Berry publishes an article entitled “Reparations for the Freedman, 1890-1916: Fraudulent Practices or Justice Denied?,” concluding that no evidence was presented that leaders of the ex-slave pension movement had engaged in fraud.

  Reference: Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Excerpt from Black Exodus: The Ex-Slave Pension Movement Reader,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A. Winbush,..READ MORE

In 1973, Boris Bittker publishes the book entitled The Case for Black Reparations.

  Reference:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Bittker 

In 1973, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is established. The secretariat headquarters is in Georgetown, Guyana. As of 2018, CARICOM has 15 full members, 5 associate members, and 8 observers.

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_Community

In the summer of 1973, a class-action lawsuit is filed on behalf of participants, and their families, in the US Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee.

  Reference:  https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm

In 1974, a $10 million out-of-court settlement is reached in the case of the US Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (see timeline entry for 1973). As part of the settlement, the US Government promises to give lifetime medical benefits and burial services to all living participants.

  Reference:  https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm  

In 1975, wives, widows and offspring are added to the benefits program provided for in the settlement of in the case of the US Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (see timeline entry for 1973).

  Reference:  https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm 

In April 1979, members of the former Harris Neck community and their descendants (see timeline entry for July 1942) converge on Harris Neck, Georgia to reclaim their land.

  Reference:  https://www.change.org/p/return-harris-neck-land-to-rightful-owners

On May 2, 1979, four people are arrested by US Federal marshals at Harris Neck, Georgia (see timeline entry for April 1979) and sentenced to a month in jail in Savannah, Georgia.

  Reference: https://www.change.org/p/return-harris-neck-land-to-rightful-owners

$105 million: Sioux of South Dakota for seizure of their land (United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371 (1980)).

On August 1, 1980, Edgar Timmons. Jr. and the group known as People Organized for Equal Rights (POER) file a motion for the return of Harris Neck, Georgia (see timeline entry for July 1942). Attorneys for POER include Clarence Martin of Savannah, Georgia and Eric Schnapper of New York. The NAACP and the Emergency Land Fund assist POER in the effort.

  Reference:  https://www.change.org/p/return-harris-neck-land-to-rightful-owners

On August 25, 1980, the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia (per Judge B. Avant Edenfield) denies the People Organized for Equal Rights (POER) motion (see timeline entry for August 1, 1980) and enters a permanent injunction against efforts to occupy lands at Harris Neck, Georgia, ruling, “Title has vested in the United States and cannot be returned to the original owners without Congressional authorization. There is no remedy for defendants in the courts.”

  Reference:  https://www.change.org/p/return-harris-neck-land-to-rightful-owners

Meetings are held in Brooklyn in 1976 and 1977. The purpose is to address disunity among the various forces in the Black Movement and to formulate a united front. A core group urges a call to convene the founding convention of the National Black United Front (NBUF).

Then, in June 1980, the meeting is held in Brooklyn, New York, at the Old Armory. More than one thousand activists from thirty-four states and..READ MORE

In the 1980s, African National Reparations Organizations (ANRO), an organization of the African People’s Socialist Party, conducts tribunals on the issue of reparations.

  Reference:  Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?:..READ MORE

$12.3 million: Seminoles of Florida (see Racial Justice in America: A Reference Handbook by David B. Mustard, 2002, ABC-CLIO, p. 81).

$31 million: Chippewas of Wisconsin (see Racial Justice in America: A Reference Handbook by David B. Mustard, 2002, ABC-CLIO, p. 81).

In spring of 1987, David Addams, Associate Director of National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) asks Adjoa A. Aiyetoro (later chair of the Legal Strategies Commission and founding member of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA)) to organize a panel on reparations for the September 1987 conference at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Panelists include, among others: (i) Richard America, economist; (ii) Chokwe Lumumba; (iii) Imari Obadele, President of the Republic of New Afrika; and (iv) Nkechi Taifa...READ MORE

On August 21, 1987, Imari Obadele, president of Republic of New Afrika (RNA), at the urging of Dorothy Benton Lewis, leader of the Black Reparations Commission, issues a call to come to Washington, D.C. to discuss, among other things, development of a campaign for reparations.

Five organizing meetings are held from September 1987 until April 1989. Vincent Godwin (now Kalonji Olusegun) chairs the meetings representing the convening organization, the Foreign..READ MORE

In 1988, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) is organized in the tradition of Callie House.

  Reference: Conrad W. Worrill, The National Black United Front and the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A. Winbush,..READ MORE

On April 8, 1989, N’COBRA holds its first Washington, D.C. town hall meeting. Senator Bill Owens is a speaker, and Queen Mother Audley Moore, mother of the contemporary reparations movement, attends.

  Reference:  Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?:..READ MORE

In April 1989, the African-American Summit includes support for reparations in its concluding document: “We call for reparations. If they are good enough for the Japanese-Americans and Native Americans, they are good for those of us who worked for hundreds of years unpaid, and who now need that capital for our own development in this country?” (Salim Muwakkil, Black America: Blacks call for reparations to break the shackles of the past, In These Times (Oct. 11-17, 1989), p. 6)

On April 14, 1989, Detroit Councilmember Clyde Cleveland introduces a resolution to establish a $40 billion education fund (using Federal monies) for Black Americans descended from enslaved Africans.

  Reference:  Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?:..READ MORE

In May 1989, after lobbying by the Detroit African-American Reparations Committee and N’COBRA members, led by Ray Jenkins, the Detroit City Council unanimously approves resolution introduced by Detroit Councilmember Clyde Cleveland.

  Reference:  Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?:..READ MORE

In 1989, Massachusetts State Senator Bill Owens introduces Senate Bill 1621, cosponsored by Representatives Shirley Owens-Hicks and Byron Rushing. This bill is an act to provide for reparations by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for slavery, the slave trade, and invidious discrimination against people of African descent born or residing in the US.

  Reference:  Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?:..READ MORE

In 1989, the December I2th Movement International Secretariat (IS) first goes to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, as part of a group called Freedom Now, a campaign seeking amnesty for political prisoners and prisoners of war in the US. Many of the IS members are veterans of the African Liberation Support Committee of the 1970s.

The December 12th Movement takes its name from a statewide demonstration held in Newburgh, New York on December 12, 1987. The rally was called to..READ MORE

In July 1990, in large part through the efforts of Baton Rouge N’COBRA leadership Peggy and Herbert Bookter, the Louisiana State legislature passes a concurrent resolution calling upon the US Congress to pass H.R. 3745.

  Reference: Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?: Slavery..READ MORE

In September 1990, Nkechi Taifa, chair of the D.C. chapter of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, requests a resolution in support of H.R. 3745 from the D.C. Council through Wilhelmina J. Rolark, chair of the Committee on the Judiciary. The D.C. Council issues a resolution.

Reference:  Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?: Slavery..READ MORE

In 1992, at a summit meeting of the Organization of African (OAU), the Heads of State of Africa appointed Ali A. Mazrui and eleven others to constitute a Group of Eminent Persons to explore the modalities and logistics of a campaign for Black reparations world-wide.

The Group elects as chair Chief Moshood K.O. Abiola; as co-chair Professor Mahtar M’Bow, former Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization..READ MORE

U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution acknowledging and apologizing to Native Hawaiians the illegal United States–aided overthrow of the sovereign Hawaiian nation.

The reparations payments from 1994-2016, with the exception of Virginia Governor Mark Warner’s 2002 apology and Georgetown University’s actions, are taken from “Black and Blue..READ MORE

In 1993, a conference is held in Nigeria, hosted by Nigerian reparations activist Bashorun M.L.O. Abiola.

At the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in June 1993, the December I2th Movement International Secretariat (IS) calls for a World Conference Against Racism.

  Reference:  Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond..READ MORE

The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (Sub-Commission), appoints Theo van Boven, from the Netherlands, as special rapporteur to study restitution, compensation, and rehabilitation for victims of gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Van Boven’s report (E.CN.4/Sub.2/1993/8, July 2, 1993) finds historical precedents for the reparations received by the Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust and by US..READ MORE

At the UN, Western countries agree to the appointment of a special rapporteur on racism, but only if the rapporteur’s mandate is expanded to include Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

  Reference: Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

In spring of 1994, the Florida State legislature votes to give $2 million in compensation for the nine family members surviving the Rosewood Massacre of 1923 (equaling $150,000 each). In December 2010, a state scholarship is established for descendants of families who survived the Massacre.

  Reference: Raymond A. Winbush, And the Earth Moved: Stealing Black Land in the United States, in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed...READ MORE

In 1994, Maurice Glele, member of the Supreme Court of Benin, is appointed Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance.

  Reference: Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

In October 1994, Maurice Glele, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, visits the US, at the invitation of the December I2th Movement International Secretariat (IS) and others.

  Reference:  Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond..READ MORE

On October 15, 1994, the December I2th Movement International Secretariat (IS) and the International Association Against Torture (AICT, Spanish acronym) hold a tribunal, at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. More than 80 testify. More than 150 presentations are prepared for Maurice Glele, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance.

  Reference:  Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond..READ MORE

The Southern Baptists apologized to African American church members for the denomination’s endorsement of slavery.

In 1995, Maurice Glele, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, issues a report (E/CN.4/1995/78/Add.1) critical of the US situation. The US disagrees with the report’s findings and recommendations and continues to resist holding a World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), as proposed by the December I2th Movement International Secretariat (IS) in 1993.

  Reference: Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

On December 4, 1995, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decides Cato v. United States, 70 F.3d 1103 (9th Cir. 1995), rejecting reparations damages claim against the US on ground that US has not waived its sovereign immunity with respect to any of plaintiff’s theories of relief.

  Reference: Cato v. United States,70 F.3d 1103 (9th Cir. 1995)

In 1996, the 75th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre (May 31 to June 1, 1921), a bi-partisan group in the Oklahoma State legislature authorizes formation of the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. Members are appointed to investigate events, interview survivors, hear testimony from the public, and prepare a report of events. There is an effort toward public education about these events through the process.

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot#Tulsa_Race_Riot_Commission    

In 1997, Bacre Wali Ndiaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, investigates and issues reports critical of the US situation (E/CN.4//1998/68/Add.3).

  Reference: Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

The December I2th Movement International Secretariat (IS), the International Association Against Torture (AICT, Spanish acronym), and the Center for Law and Social Justice of Medgar Evers College sponsor a public meeting for families of victims of police killings, and of those executed or still on death row.

  Reference:  Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond..READ MORE

The title of the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), proposed by the December I2th Movement International Secretariat (IS) in 1993, is expanded to include Xenophobia and Related Intolerance as part of a compromise reached with Western countries.

And, in December 1997, the United Nations General Assembly agrees to hold the World Conference Against Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related..READ MORE

On May 16, 1997, US President Clinton apologizes on behalf of the nation for the US Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee (see timeline entry for 1973).

  Reference: https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm

President Clinton signed into law the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Study Site Act, which officially acknowledges an 1864 attack by seven hundred U.S. soldiers on a peaceful Cheyenne village located in the territory of Colorado. Hundreds, largely women and children, were killed. The act calls for the establishment of a federally funded Historic Site at Sand Creek.

At the 1998 session of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Geneva, the African Group, chaired by Senegal, unanimously proposes a resolution calling for the declaration of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery as a crime against humanity.

According to rumor, US President Clinton, enroute to Senegal to present the African Growth and Opportunity Act, calls Senegal’s President Diouf from Air Force One...READ MORE

In 1998, the Black Radical Congress joins the reparations movement.

  Reference: Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?: Slavery..READ MORE

In 1999, NAACP makes reparations one of its primary legislative campaigns.

Reference: Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and..READ MORE

In 1999, the National Bar Association creates a reparations task force.

  Reference: Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA): Its Creation and Contribution to the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?: Slavery..READ MORE

In 2000, US House Representative Tony Hall proposes H.R. 356, a formal resolution to acknowledge and apologize for slavery.

Reference: Harper’s Magazine, November 2000, Does America Owe a Debt to the Descendants of its Slaves?,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond..READ MORE

In January 2000, Randall Robinson’s book The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks is released.

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Robinson

Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann confronts Aetna Incorporated with evidence that a predecessor company had written so-called “Aetna Slave Policy” on the lives of slaves with slaveholders as policy beneficiaries, thereby helping to finance the institution of slavery. Farmer-Paellmann asks that the company apologize and pay restitution. Aetna agrees to do both.

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aetna Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Excerpt from Black Exodus: The Ex-Slave Pension Movement Reader,inShould America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

In March of 2000, Aetna makes an apology for their role in slavery, but backs down on the promise to pay restitution.

  Reference: Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Excerpt from Black Exodus: The Ex-Slave Pension Movement Reader,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A. Winbush,..READ MORE

In response to evidence generated by Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann regarding insurance company practices, the State of California requires insurers to search their archives for slave policies.

  Reference: Congressmember John Conyers Jr. with Jo Ann Nichols Watson, Reparations: An Idea Whose Time Has Come,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on..READ MORE

Resolution on reparations is sponsored by Aldermember Dorothy Tillman in Chicago City Council.

  Reference: Conrad W. Worrill, The National Black United Front and the Reparations Movement,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A. Winbush,..READ MORE

At the first preparatory conference for the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), the WEO Group, that is, Western European and Others (United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), led by the US, takes the position that compensatory relief (i.e., reparations) should not be discussed at WCAR.

  Reference: Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

In December 2000, the US attends the GRULAC (Group of Latin American and Caribbean) countries’ preparatory conference, rather than its own WEO preparatory conference, reportedly to try to ensure that the GRULAC preparatory conference (held in Santiago, Chile) does not come out with a strong declaration on reparations and crimes against humanity.

  Reference: Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

The Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Methodist Church (UMC), United Church of Christ (UCC), and Unitarian Universalists (UU) pass resolutions or create commissions that call for a study of the history of slavery, the on-going harms and benefits of that history, and the possibility of reparations.

  Reference: Jennifer Harvey, Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation(2014) at p. 194  

The African regional preparatory conference for the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) is held in Dakar, Senegal (Jan. 22-24, 2001). Again, the US sends a delegation to the African regional preparatory conference, reportedly to try to ensure that the preparatory conference does not come out with a strong declaration on reparations and crimes against humanity.

Resisting the pressure, African ministers develop the Dakar Declaration, affirming: The slave trade is a unique tragedy in the history of humanity, particularly against Africans,..READ MORE

Following the third preparatory conference for the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), the WEO Group, that is, Western European and Others (United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), is hopeful that the WEO Group has persuaded the African Group to back down from the Dakar Declaration.

  Reference: Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

In the February 21, 2001 edition, USA Today features Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann and reports on Farmer-Paellmann’s research identifying some 60 companies that profited from slavery and how Farmer-Paellmann has taken findings to some nine of them (banks, insurers, etc.) In the same year, Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann is keynote presenter at the N’COBRA national convention in Baton Rouge.

  Reference: Congressmember John Conyers Jr. with Jo Ann Nichols Watson, Reparations: An Idea Whose Time Has Come,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on..READ MORE

On February 28, 2001, the final report of the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 is published, making recommendations including a program of reparations to survivors and their descendants.

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot#Tulsa_Race_Riot_Commission

On April 7, 2001, the Tulsa Reparations Coalition, sponsored by the Center for Racial Justice, Inc., is formed to obtain restitution for the damages suffered by Tulsa’s Black community, as recommended by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.

Tulsa Metropolitan Ministries (whose director at the time was Steve Cranford) develops its own reparations program.   Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot#Tulsa_Race_Riot_Commission  

In June 2001, the Oklahoma State legislature passes the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot Reconciliation Act.

Providing for the following: More than 300 college scholarships for descendants of Greenwood residents; Creation of a memorial to those who died in the riot...READ MORE

In the morning of September 3, 2001, the African Group announces its continued support for the Dakar Declaration. Later that afternoon, the US walks out of the Durban conference.

  Reference:  Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond..READ MORE

The African and African Descendants Caucus successfully lobbies for reparations and to have the Maafa (African Holocaust, Holocaust of Enslavement, or Black Holocaust) included in the final declaration document at the 2001 United Nations World Conference against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa.

  Reference: African Americans in Global Affairs: Contemporary Perspectives (ed. Michael L. Clemons) at p. 245  

Following the conclusion, on September 8, 2001, of the UN World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa, the WEO Group sought to have language eliminated or changed, delaying for nearly four months the issuance of the Durban Final Declaration and Programme of Action.

Reference: http://www.un.org/WCAR/durban.pdf

Following the departure of the US from the Durban conference on September 3, 2001, the remaining members of the WEO Group agree to consensus language recognizing the transatlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.

  Reference: Roger Wareham, The Popularization of the International Demand for Reparations for African People,in Should America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE

Governor Mark Warner of Virginia issued a formal apology for the state’s decision to forcibly sterilize more than 8,000 of its residents (“Va. Apologizes to the Victims of Sterilizations” by William Branigin, Washington Post, May 3, 2002).

On March 26, 2002, the first (Farmer-Paellmann v. FleetBoston) of a series of reparations cases is filed by descendants of enslaved Africans against corporations. The case includes human rights and consumer fraud allegations.

  Reference: http://news.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/slavery/fpllmnflt032602cmp.pdf

In 2003, the compilation book entitled “Should America Pay? Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations,” edited by Raymond A. Winbush, Ph.D, professor and director of the Institute of Urban Research at Morgan State University, is published.

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Winbush  

In February 2003, five survivors of the Tulsa Massacre (May 31 to June 1, 1921), represented by a legal team that included Johnnie Cochran and Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree, file suit against the City of Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma (Alexander, et al., v. Oklahoma, et al.) (sometimes called the Tulsa survivor litigation) based upon the findings of the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.

  Reference: Alexander v. State of Oklahoma,Case No. 03-C-133-E (N.D. Okla. Mar. 19, 2004)  

On December 13, 2004, in the Tulsa survivor litigation, the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit denies rehearing en banc, with two judges dissenting.

At trial level, the Federal district court had concludes that the statute of limitations expired because, for among other reasons, a book was published circa..READ MORE

The Report of the Task Force to Study Reparations is presented to and endorsed by the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Churches (USA)

  Reference:  http://www.pcusa.org/acrec/issues.htm  

Virginia, five decades after ignoring Prince Edward County and other locales that shut down their public schools in support of segregation, is making a rare effort to confront its racist past, in effect apologizing and offering reparations in the form of scholarships. With a $1 million donation from the billionaire media investor John Kluge and a matching amount from the state, Virginia is providing up to $5,500 to any state resident who was denied a proper education when public schools shut down. So far, more than 80 students have been approved for the scholarships and the numbers are expected to rise. Several thousand are potentially eligible. “A New Hope For Dreams Suspended By Segregation,” The New York Times, July 31, 2005 by Michael Janofsky.

The U.S. Senate approved, by voice vote, S.R. 39, which called for the lawmakers to apologize to lynching victims, survivors, and their descendants, several whom were watching from the gallery.

In December 2005, a boycott is called by a coalition of reparations groups under the sponsorship of the Restitution Study Group. The boycott targets the student loan products of banks deemed complicit in slavery—particularly those identified in the Farmer-Paellmann litigation.

  Reference: http://www.rsgincorp.com/direct_action  

In 2005, JP Morgan Chase and Wachovia apologize for their connections to slavery.

  Reference: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/19/AR2005061900694_2.html?noredirect=on  

In 2005, the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland convenes a reparations task force, which hosts a diocese-wide conversation with Dr. Raymond A. Winbush, Ph.D, professor and director of the Institute of Urban Research at Morgan State University.

  Reference: Jennifer Harvey, DEAR WHITE CHRISTIANS: FOR THOSE STILL LONGING FOR RACIAL RECONCILIATION(2014) at Chapter 8, at pp. 218, et seq.  

See In re: African-American Slave Descendants Litigation,Nos. 05-3265, 05-3266 & 05-3305 (Dec. 13, 2006) (“But the plaintiffs are charging the defendants with misrepresenting their activities in..READ MORE

The Episcopal Church passes Resolution 2006-A123, entitled “Study Economic Benefits Derived from Slavery,” and Resolution 2006-C011, entitled “Support Legislation for Reparations for Slavery.”

  Reference: Jennifer Harvey, DEAR WHITE CHRISTIANS: FOR THOSE STILL LONGING FOR RACIAL RECONCILIATION (2014) at Chapter 8, at pp. 218, et seq.  

In November 2006, the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania resolves to investigate sources of personal and family wealth from activities related to the slave trade.

  See R-14-2006, entitled “Resolution on Slavery and Racial Reconciliation in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania,” 23rd Convention (Nov. 2006) (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/social-justice_57347_ENG_HTM-htm)

In December 2007, the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties of the Committee on the Judiciary of the US Congress holds an Oversight Hearing on the Legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

  Reference: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110hhrg39707/html/CHRG-110hhrg39707.htm  

In March 2007, at an event marking the second centenary of the passage, by the British Parliament, of legislation outlawing slavery throughout the British Empire, Ghanaian President John Kufuor addresses reparations. Bright Simons, Ghanaian President Stirs Controversy Over Slave Trade Reparations

  Reference: http://www.worldpress.org/africa/2750.cfm (April 12, 2007).  

In 2008, the Episcopal Diocese of New York produces the DVD entitled “The Diocese of New York Examines Slavery: Talking About Reparations, Repair and Reconciliation.”

  Reference: Jennifer Harvey, DEAR WHITE CHRISTIANS: FOR THOSE STILL LONGING FOR RACIAL RECONCILIATION (2014) at Chapter 8, at pp. 218, et seq.  

In 2009, the Illinois State legislature passes a bill authorizing creation of the Illinois Torture Inquiry Relief Commission (TIRC) to investigate cases of people “in which police torture might have resulted in wrongful convictions.”

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge  

Beginning work in 2011, the Illinois Torture Inquiry Relief Commission (TIRC) refers 17 cases to circuit court for judicial review for potential relief. Three convicts are freed based on review of their cases. Individuals may initiate claims to the commission. As of April 2016, another 130 cases are heard regarding torture not committed by former Chicago Police Department commander Jon Burge or his subordinates.

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge  

In 2011, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez compels the Office of Conviction Integrity to review cases of convictions dependent on evidence from homicide detective Richard Zuley of the Chicago Police Department.

  Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Burge  

The Southern Grassroots Economies Project (SGEP) is formed, following an initial gathering held at Highlander in March of 2011.

  Reference: E-mail communication with Fund for Democratic Communities 315 Spring Garden Street, Suite 2A   Greensboro NC 27401 336-497-1854 (office)  

The Southern Grassroots Economies Project (SGEP) (see timeline entry for 2011) holds its first CoopEcon conference at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives’ Research and Training facility in Epes, Alabama.

  Reference: E-mail communication with Fund for Democratic Communities 315 Spring Garden Street, Suite 2A   Greensboro NC 27401 336-497-1854 (office)  

In 2013, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) launches the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC).

  Reference: http://caricomreparations.org/  

In September 2013, the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC), chaired by University of the West Indies Vice Chancellor Prof. Sir Hilary Beckles, holds its first meeting, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

  Reference: http://caricomreparations.org/  

The state of North Carolina set aside $10 million for reparations payments to living survivors of the state’s eugenics program, which forcibly sterilized approximately 7,600 people (“North Carolina Set To Compensate Forced Sterilization Victims” by Scott Neuman, NPR, July 25, 2013; “Families of NC Eugenics Victims No Longer Alive Still Have Shot at Compensation” by Anne Blythe, News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), March 17, 2017).

In March 2014, at a two-day meeting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) approves a 10-point plan for reparations.

CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) asserts that “EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS”: Were owners and traders of enslaved Africans instructed genocidal actions upon indigenous communities Created the legal, financial..READ MORE

In June 2014, “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates is published in the Atlantic.

  Reference: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/    

The book entitled “Dear White Christians: For Those Still Longing for Racial Reconciliation” by Jennifer Harvey is published.

  Reference: https://www.drake.edu/philrel/faculty/jenniferharvey/  

On April 14, 2015, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces the creation of a $5.5 million city fund for individuals who could prove that they were victimized by former Chicago Police Department commander Jon Burge. (When this fund is first proposed by Aldermembers in 2013, they suggest that it should be established for $20 million.)

Under the terms, some 60 living victims would each be eligible to receive up to $100,000. The living survivors and their immediate families, and the..READ MORE

In April 2015, the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) is established as a group of professionals in the fields of law, medicine, journalism, academia, history, civil rights, and social justice advocacy. Convenor is Dr. Ron Daniels, professor at York College of the City University of New York.

  Reference: https://ibw21.org/initiatives/national-african-american-reparations-commission/  

The Southern Grassroots Economies Project (SGEP) (see timeline entry for 2011) identifies the need for a loan fund dedicated to marginalized Southern communities working on rebuilding their local economies as early as 2012 and begins learning about how to establish such a loan fund over the next few years. The Southern Reparations Loan Fund (SRLF) is incorporated as a legal entity in December 2015.

  Reference: E-mail communication with Fund for Democratic Communities 315 Spring Garden Street, Suite 2A   Greensboro NC 27401 336-497-1854 (office)

Georgetown University has acknowledged that the school has profited from the sale of slaves and has “reconciled” by naming two buildings after African Americans and offer preferred admission to any descendants of slaves who worked at the university.

The state of Virginia, one of more than 30 other states that practiced forced sterilizations, followed North Carolina’s lead and has since 2016 been awarding $25,000 to each survivor (“Virginia Votes Compensation for Victims of its Eugenic Sterilization Program” by Jaydee Hanson, Center for Genetics and Society, March 5, 2015).

In February 2016, after spending a week meeting with African Americans across the United States, including in Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, D.C. and Jackson, Mississippi, the U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent releases its recommendations, urging the US to consider reparations to African Americans whose ancestors were enslaved as part of trans-Atlantic slave trade.

  Reference: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-government-should-pay-reparations-to-the-african-american-descendants-of-slaves-un-committee-says-a6842851.html  

In March 2016, Charlottesville City Council members Wes Bellamy and Kristin Szakos call for removal of the Robert E. Lee statue and renaming the Lee Park.

  Reference: http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2017/02/city-council-votes-to-remove-robert-e-lee-statue  

In April 2016, the Charlottesville City Council decides to appoint a special commission– the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Monuments, and Public Spaces–to make recommendations regarding the Stonewall Jackson (Thomas Jonathan Jackson) statue in Court Square and Robert E. Lee statue in Lee Park, among other things.

In early November 2016, the Blue Ribbon Commission (chaired by Don Gathers), votes 6–3 to let both statues remain in place. On November 28, 2016,..READ MORE

Congressman John Conyers, D-Michigan, introduces a newly revised bill H.R. 40, Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, which was initially proposed to the House of Representatives in 1989 and every year since. The bill was introduced “[to] address the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865 and to establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery, its subsequent de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes.” (Preamble)

In January 2017, a $4 million reparations, or equity, package is presented to Charlottesville City Council and passes unanimously.

$950,000 to the African American Heritage Center, $250,000 to build onto one of the parks in the African-American community, $2.5 million to public housing redevelopment,..READ MORE

On February 6, 2017, the Charlottesville five-member City Council votes 3 to 2 remove the Lee statue and unanimously to rename Lee Park. In April 2017, the City Council votes 3 to 2 (as with the February vote) that the statue be removed completely from Charlottesville and sold to whoever the Council chooses.

  Reference: http://www.whsv.com/content/news/413027923.html https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/charlottesville-city-council-votes-to-sell-robert-e-lee-statue/article_c45667e1-6b00-5bd8-880d-c4a6b60a6a0d.html https://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/02/monuments_charlottesville_city.html http://thebullelephant.com/timeline-of-the-confederate-monuments-controversy-in-charlottesville-va/  

In June 2017, St. Louis Aldermember John Collins Muhammad introduces a resolution in support of a bill in the U.S. House (HR 40) and signals more ordinances will follow calling for a local study on slavery and reparations.

  Reference: https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2017/06/14/st-louis-black-aldermanic-caucus-calls-for-slavery-reparations

In July 2017, the University of the West Indies (UWI) establishes a Centre for Reparations Research, to be led by Professor Verene Shepherd, former Director of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies, co-Chair of the National Council on Reparation (Jamaica) and one of the three Vice Chairs of the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC).

The Centre for Reparations Research at the UWI will lead the implementation of CARICOM’s Reparatory Justice Programme, with three strategic goals: promoting research on the..READ MORE

In October 2017, the Centre for Reparations Research at the University of the West Indies (UWI) is officially launched with the first event a reparations symposium.

  Reference: http://www.reparationresearch.org/event/crr-offical-launch/  

The Supreme Court, in a 4-4 deadlock, let stand a lower court’s order that the state of Washington make billions of dollars worth of repairs to roads, where the state had built culverts below road channels and structures in a way that prevented salmon from swimming through and reaching their spawning grounds, that had damaged the state’s salmon habitats and contributed to population loss. The case involved the Stevens Treaties, a series of agreements in 1854-55, in which tribes in Washington State gave up millions of acres of land in exchange for “the right to take fish.” Implicit in the treaties, courts would later rule, was a guarantee that there would be enough fish for the tribes to harvest. Destroying the habitat reduces the population and thus violates these treaties. This decision directly affects the Swinomish Tribe (“A Victory For A Tribe That’s Lost Its Salmon” by John Eligon, The New York Times, June 12, 2018).

In January 2018, reparations are the focus of the 2018 Sparer Symposium at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (Penn Law). Nkechi Taifa, founding director of the Equal Justice Program at Howard University Law School and commissioner of the National African Reparations Commission (NAARC), delivers the keynote address.

  Reference: https://www.law.upenn.edu/publicservice/sparer-symposium.php  

In April 2018, the Equal Justice Initiative (Executive Director Bryan Stevenson) hosts a Summit in Montgomery, Alabama to coincide with the grand opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum.

  Reference: https://eji.org/ https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/news/2018-05-25/national-memorial-and-legacy-museum-heralded-important-new-institutions  

In May 2018, on the anniversary of the anti-slavery rebellion of the Maroon Jose Leonardo Chirino (in Las Macanillas, Falcon State on May 10, 1795), an international meeting on reparations is convened in Caracas, Venezuela.

  Reference: http://www.reparationresearch.org/declaration-international-meeting-reparations-caracas-venezuela/  

Fellowship of Reconciliation and The Truth Telling Project hosts The Long Wait for Freedom & Global Reparations webinar on Juneteenth 2018.

* Jodie Geddes: Community Organizing Coordinator, Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY), and Chair, Coming To The Table Project * Jumoke Ifetayo: Co-Chair, National Coalition..READ MORE

On May 14, 2018, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival (compare timeline entry for December 4, 1967) launches a 40-day moral fusion campaign of direct nonviolent action in Washington, D.C. and 30-plus US States.

  Reference: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org  

In the 1980s, organizations with reparations as a part of their agenda include the December 12th Movement; the Uhuru Movement; the Republic of New Afrika (RNA); the National Black United Front (NBUF); the African People’s Socialist Party and its African National Reparations Organization; the New Afrikan Peoples Organization; and the Nation of Islam.

  Reference:  Conrad W. Worrill, The National Black United Front and the Reparations Movement,inShould America Pay?: Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations(ed. Raymond A...READ MORE