American slaves struggled a lot by the hands of their white masters. Their
ancestors in the present world are fighting and struggling to get
reparation. People around the world are in conflict whether to provide
• To Determine whether or not the descendants of African slaves brought
to the U.S. should be repaid for the work and suffering of their
• To Determine who should be held accountable for the repayment.
• Who would be eligible to receive any such payment'
• And to determine how any such payment would be made to those eligible,
e.g. in the form of cash, governmental benefits, a verbal apology,
land grants, education benefits, etc.
During the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War, slaves were
promised "forty acres and a mule" to help them start their lives as 'free
men'. The promise was never kept and the idea of reparations began to grow.
The debt owed to African-American descendants of slaves for work and
suffering has been estimated anywhere between $1.6 and $777 trillion by
those in favor of reparations. There is historical precedence for the
payment of reparations. Reparations were awarded to Japanese families in
detention camps during World War II by a 1940s court decision. Also an
international court has awarded reparations to descendants of Jewish slave
laborers who worked in Germany and Austria during World War II.
Those in favor of slavery reparations argue that compensation promised to
slaves upon their release was never paid. Proponents mention the years of
labor, atrocious conditions, rape and beatings at the hands of their owners
and absolute construction of the country as reasons for the debt that is
owed. Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, the plaintiff in the most recent case
against U.S. corporat...