What reparations for slavery and its aftermath would involve, what has already been tried, where the fight stands in 2026 and what action you can take this week.
Reparations are payments and other remedies owed to people harmed by a government or institution. For Black Americans, the claim covers slavery and the century of legal discrimination that followed, including Jim Crow laws, redlining and the seizure of Black-owned land. Proposals include direct cash payments, housing and land assistance, tuition aid and formal apologies. Most plans ask governments to pay, since governments wrote and enforced the laws that caused the harm. In 2022, the median white household held $284,310 in wealth, more than six times the $44,100 held by the median Black household (National Community Reinvestment Coalition).
The United States (US) has paid reparations before. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 gave $20,000 and a formal apology to each surviving Japanese American held in World War II camps, and 82,219 people received checks (Wikipedia). In 1952, West Germany agreed to pay 3 billion marks to Israel and 450 million marks to the Jewish Claims Conference for Holocaust losses (Wikipedia). In 1994, Florida passed a law offering up to $150,000 to each survivor of the 1923 Rosewood massacre, plus a scholarship fund for descendants (California Department of Justice). In 2015, Chicago approved a $5.5 million fund, a formal apology and counseling for people tortured by police under Cmdr. Jon Burge (Chicago Sun-Times). The federal bill H.R. 40 would create a commission to study reparations for Black Americans. Rep. John Conyers first introduced it in 1989, and it has never received a vote on the House floor (Wikipedia).
Most of the action is now at the city and state levels. Evanston, Illinois, created the first publicly funded program in 2019. It pays $25,000 to Black residents harmed by housing discrimination between 1919 and 1969 and to their descendants, using cannabis tax revenue (Wikipedia). California's reparations task force released its final report on June 29, 2023 (California Department of Justice). Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a formal state apology for slavery in September 2024 (Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom). In October 2025, he signed Senate Bill 518, which creates a Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery, and vetoed bills on college admissions, eminent domain claims and homebuyer aid (KPBS). Maryland lawmakers overrode Gov. Wes Moore's veto on Dec. 16, 2025, creating a 23-member commission to study harms from 1877 to 1965 (Maryland Matters). New York's state commission, created in December 2023, is due to send its final report to lawmakers in January 2027 (WXXI News).
Legal and political pushback grew in 2026. A federal judge let a lawsuit against Evanston's program move forward in March 2026 (Evanston RoundTable). On June 16, 2026, the US Justice Department moved to join the suit, arguing the program violates the Equal Protection Clause (US Department of Justice). WBEZ reported in July 2026 that Evanston had paid more than $7 million to over 200 residents (WBEZ). In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the last two massacre survivors' lawsuit in June 2024 (NPR). Survivor Viola Ford Fletcher died in November 2025 at 111 (CNN). In June 2025, Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols announced the Greenwood Trust, a private trust with a $105 million goal for housing, cultural preservation and grants in the Greenwood district and North Tulsa (KGOU). In the 119th Congress, Rep. Ayanna Pressley leads H.R. 40 and Sen. Cory Booker leads the Senate version (Office of Rep. Ayanna Pressley).
10 actions — for yourself, your community and the country. Start with one.
Find your member of Congress by ZIP code and call their office. Say: “Hi, my name is ___ and I live in ___. I'm asking the Representative to cosponsor H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, and to ask the Judiciary Committee to hold a vote on it. Please tell me where the Representative stands.” If your representative already cosponsors it, thank them and ask them to push for a committee vote.
The National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC), convened by Dr. Ron Daniels, runs a campaign for H.R. 40 and publishes a 10-point reparations program. Join its mailing list to get action alerts and notices of national town halls.
The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA), founded in 1987, organizes members through local chapters and held its 2026 national convention in Washington in June. Register as a member on its website and ask to be connected to the chapter nearest you.
FirstRepair, founded by Evanston reparations architect Robin Rue Simmons, runs a national resource center for state and local reparations efforts. Use it to see whether your city or county has a task force, then put its next public meeting on your calendar and go.
New York, Maryland and California have state bodies studying or carrying out reparations. If you live in one of those states, sign up for the commission's meeting notices and send written testimony when it opens public comment.
More than 100 colleges belong to the Universities Studying Slavery consortium. Look up your school on the member list, read its report and write to the president's office asking what the school has done to act on its findings.
Coming to the Table has more than three dozen local groups in 16 states where descendants of enslaved people and descendants of enslavers meet to research family history and work on repair. Find a group near you or use its free materials to start one.
The Black Family Land Trust in North Carolina helps Black families keep and conserve land in the Southeast. If you live in the Northeast, the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust returns land to Black, Indigenous and other farmers of color and also accepts land gifts.
The Greenwood Trust funds housing, historic preservation and small-business grants for massacre descendants and North Tulsa residents. Give online through the trust's website.
Write down where your family's home, schooling and savings came from, and who was shut out of the same chances. Then use the reparative genealogy guides from Reparations 4 Slavery to research your family's history and decide where to direct money or land.
Belinda Sutton, enslaved for decades by Isaac Royall Jr., petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for support from Royall's estate. Lawmakers granted her a yearly pension of 15 pounds and 12 shillings, though she had to petition repeatedly to get paid. Read more ›
Gen. William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15, setting aside coastal land in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida in parcels of up to 40 acres for freed families. About 40,000 people settled the land before President Andrew Johnson reversed the policy later that year and returned it to former Confederates. Read more ›
Callie House, leader of the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association, was convicted of mail fraud and sentenced to a year and a day. Her group, chartered in 1897, had signed up hundreds of thousands of members to seek pensions for formerly enslaved people. Read more ›
President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, which apologized for the incarceration of Japanese Americans in World War II and paid $20,000 to each survivor. A total of 82,219 people received payments. Read more ›
Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles signed a law compensating survivors of the 1923 Rosewood massacre, with up to $150,000 per survivor and a scholarship fund for descendants. Read more ›
A federal judge approved the settlement in Pigford v. Glickman, a class action by Black farmers who said the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) denied them loans and aid because of race. Approved claimants on the fast track received $50,000 plus loan forgiveness, and Congress added $1.2 billion in 2010 for farmers who had filed late. Read more ›
The Chicago City Council approved a $5.5 million reparations package for people tortured by police under Cmdr. Jon Burge between 1972 and 1991. It included payments of up to $100,000 each, a formal apology, free city college tuition, counseling and a public school curriculum on the case. Read more ›
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to return Bruce's Beach to descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce, whose beachfront resort Manhattan Beach, California, seized through eminent domain in 1924. In January 2023 the family agreed to sell the land back to the county for $20 million. Read more ›
California's reparations task force released its final report, the first state study of its kind. The task force had voted in 2022 to limit eligibility to descendants of people enslaved in the US. Read more ›
The Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed a public nuisance lawsuit brought by Tulsa massacre survivors Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Ford Fletcher. The court said setting up reparations was a job for the legislature. Read more ›
Maryland's General Assembly overrode Gov. Wes Moore's veto and created a state reparations commission, with votes of 31-13 in the Senate and 93-35 in the House. Read more ›
The US Justice Department moved to intervene in Flinn v. City of Evanston, a lawsuit claiming Evanston's reparations program is illegal race discrimination. A federal judge had denied the city's motion to dismiss in March 2026. Read more ›
An economist and a folklorist lay out the history of the racial wealth gap and a detailed federal reparations plan, including who should be eligible. The link goes to the 2022 second edition.
A biography of Callie House and the pension movement she led for formerly enslaved people, and how the federal government shut it down.
The founder of TransAfrica argues for reparations and connects the harms of slavery to present-day inequality in the US and abroad.
This essay collection includes “The Case for Reparations,” with new notes from Coates on how he reported it.
A philosopher argues for a forward-looking view of reparations that links slavery and colonialism to present-day climate and wealth policy.
Two pastors make the case for reparations to church audiences and describe how congregations can take part.
A history of the federal, state and local laws that created housing segregation, the harm at the center of Evanston's program.
A Guyanese historian traces how the Atlantic slave trade and colonial rule drained wealth and labor from Africa to Europe. It gives the history behind reparations claims made against former colonial powers.
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A lesson by Ursula Wolfe-Rocca in which students critique a congressional reparations bill and draft a stronger one across six policy areas. It works for adult study groups too.
Free guides for racial healing and repair work in schools, workplaces and congregations, plus a Linked Descendants group for researching family ties to slavery.
A curriculum on the racial wealth gap and reparative genealogy, with cohort courses available on request and planning support for families and faith communities.
An annual three-day gathering in Evanston with sessions on policy design, legal strategy and research, plus a free national resource center for local efforts.
The task force's full 2023 report, executive summary and individual chapters, including the policy recommendation chapters, are free to download.
An African-born woman enslaved in Massachusetts who petitioned the state in 1783 and won a pension from her enslaver's estate. Her petition is one of the earliest known reparations claims in US history.
A Tennessee organizer who led a mass movement for pensions for formerly enslaved people. The federal government prosecuted her for mail fraud, and she served a year in prison.
A civil rights activist who organized for economic restitution for Black Americans for decades and took the demand to the United Nations.
A Michigan congressman who served from 1965 to 2017 and co-founded the Congressional Black Caucus. He introduced the reparations study bill in 1989 and in every Congress after.
A journalist and author whose 2014 Atlantic essay “The Case for Reparations” won a George Polk Award.
A Duke University economist who has studied reparations for three decades. He argues payments should go to descendants of people enslaved in the US and be large enough to close the Black-white wealth gap.
A former Evanston alderwoman who designed the city's reparations program, the first publicly funded one in the US. She now leads FirstRepair and chairs Evanston's Reparations Committee.
President of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and convener of the National African American Reparations Commission. He was also appointed to New York's state reparations commission.
A Massachusetts congresswoman who leads H.R. 40 in the House. She reintroduced it in February 2025 after years of leadership on the bill by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
Early ARD case for H.R. 40 and reparations, with reflection questions about family wealth and the 2015 Chicago police torture reparations ordinance.
Covers the campaign to return Bruce's Beach and the history of sundown towns and Black land loss.
Traces Black land loss from the Homestead Acts through USDA discrimination and the Pigford settlements.
Explains how the racial wealth gap is measured and how inheritance and hiring bias keep it in place.
The show examines the eligibility debate, including whether reparations should go to descendants of people enslaved in the US or to Black Americans more broadly.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, Robin Rue Simmons and a program recipient discuss the federal challenge to the city's program and what the payments have done so far.
The episode looks at the federal redress system built by Native nations and who the government recognizes as harmed by the state.
An interview show on the case for reparations, with scholars and experts on specific harms such as health care and housing.
The FirstRepair founder gives an update on Evanston's program after the Justice Department joined the lawsuit against it.
Most proposals ask governments to pay, not individuals, because governments passed and enforced slavery, Jim Crow, redlining and land seizures. Taxpayers fund many obligations for past government actions, as they did for the 1988 payments to Japanese Americans (Wikipedia).
Yes. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 paid $20,000 to each of 82,219 Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II (Wikipedia). Florida compensated Rosewood massacre survivors in 1994 (California Department of Justice). The federal government has never paid reparations for slavery.
Plans differ. California's task force limited eligibility to descendants of people enslaved in the US (CalMatters). Evanston's program covers Black residents harmed by housing discrimination from 1919 to 1969 and their descendants (Wikipedia).
Courts have not settled the question. A federal judge allowed a lawsuit against Evanston's program to proceed in March 2026 (Evanston RoundTable). The Justice Department joined the challenge in June 2026, arguing race-based payments violate the Constitution (US Department of Justice).
No. Proposals also include land, housing assistance, tuition, business grants and formal apologies. Tulsa's Greenwood Trust, for example, focuses on housing, historic preservation and scholarships (City of Tulsa).
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore made that argument when he vetoed a commission in May 2025, saying “now is not the time for another study.” Lawmakers overrode him, and the new commission will focus on harms from 1877 to 1965 and recommend specific remedies, from apologies to cash payments (Maryland Matters).
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