RESOURCESWhat we know
The argument in brief, the reading that shaped it, and where the project has been.
THE FOUR PILLARS
What a comprehensive reparations program requires
As presented by the authors of From Here to Equality.
1
Eligibility requires both a lineage and identity test.
2
3
4
The redress must bring the average wealth of Black households up to the level of white households.
Payments are to be made directly to eligible recipients.
The federal government must pay the debt.
EXHIBIT A
40 Acres & a mule
When the Civil War ended, General Sherman’s Special Field Order 15 set aside a 5.3 million-acre strip from Charleston to the St. John’s River in 40-acre allotments for the formerly enslaved. After Lincoln’s assassination, his successor Andrew Johnson, a white supremacist, cancelled the order.
Those 40 acres, compounded from 1865 at 6%, are worth close to $2.5 trillion today. About $70,000 to $80,000 for every Black American descended from an enslaved person.
Source: The Black Reparations Project
RECOMMENDED READING
Three books that inspired the project
The Plunder of Black America
Calvin Schermerhorn
Four hundred years of Black dispossession and decapitalization, what Frederick Douglass called plunder, told through the families who strived to earn and keep the fruits of their toil.
From here to equality
William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen
The course in American history missing from high school, and the first comprehensive plan for national reparations.
The Black reparations project
Edited by Darity, Mullen and Hubbard
An interdisciplinary team of scholars on the issues pertinent to making reparations happen.
FURTHER READING
PRODUCTION LOG
How we’ve been working it
Dave began the project in the spring of 2020, inspired by the book From Here to Equality. Troy joined in December 2023, Susan in January 2024, and Trudy in February 2024.
SEPTEMBER 2026
Kickstarter campaign did not reach goal. Alex Fuertes manages website redesign and new social media campaign launch.
SEPTEMBER 2025
Erin delivered the finished theatrical trailer on September 11.
AUGUST 2025
Dave delivered the extended trailer. Second crowdfunding campaign began.
JUNE 2025
Archival photos and video acquired from the National Archives.
APRIL 2025
Interview with Dr. Richard America at Georgetown University.
MARCH 2025
Filmed historian Calvin Schermerhorn in Arizona.
JANUARY 2025
Interviews with Anne Price and Tracie McMillan.
NOVEMBER 2024
Editor Erin Lee joined the team, and we secured our fiscal sponsor.
OCTOBER 2024
Our first crowdfunding campaign went live.
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