Teaching About Reparations

Manning Marable says that reparations for slavery could begin America’s Third Reconstruction. Thus, a logical place to begin a classroom study of the issue might be with the first Reconstruction (1865-1877). The best book for this, at least at the high school level, is Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution (The New Press, 1996) by the American Social History Project. See especially chapter 11, for an overview of the lost opportunity to institute meaningful land reform following the Civil War.

• Ask students to list the rights and resources that freed African Americans would have needed in order to achieve economic independence following the Civil War.
• Ask students what wealth enslaved African Americans created for America, as a result of almost 250 years (1619 -1865) of unpaid labor. Upon freedom, what payment did African Americans deserve?
• Read aloud with students Manning Marable’s article, “Racism and Reparations.” Discuss Marable’s assertion that, based on its history of slavery and segregation, America is burdened with “structural racism.” Ask students to make metaphorical drawings to create a visual representation depicting this “structure.” Ask students to react to Lerone Bennett’s comment that, “We’re not talking about welfare, we’re talking about back pay.”
• Ask students to visit several of the web sites that advocate reparations for slavery and the slave trade. Have students list all the arguments for reparations and all the proposals for different kinds of reparations.
• Have students work in small groups to share their lists and to compile a master list of “Arguments for Reparations,” and “Proposals for Different Kinds of Reparations.”
• Ask students to evaluate the arguments on their lists. Without forcing each group to reach consensus on the issue of reparations, ask all the groups to see if they can agree on a statement about reparations. Have them share these with the larger class and use them for the basis of further discussion.

— Rethinking Schools

Fall 2001