21 Ways Reparations Can Drive Economic Recovery And Expansion; An Analysis

In 1865, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman arranged a meeting with 20 Black ministers and President Lincoln’s Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton. Their objective was to develop an economic plan to assist the numerous newly liberated enslaved families. These individuals had been exploited for their unpaid labor, innovative ideas, and even viewed as commodities, all of which had been essential elements in the United States’ economic growth, productivity, and global influence. Just four days following the gathering, Sherman issued Special Field Order, No. 15, which detailed the confiscation of Confederate land along the rice coast. Subsequently, he directed the allocation of “40 acres and a mule” to thousands of Black families, a move often cited by historians as the first example of reparations to enslaved Black individuals. However, after Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865, the order was overturned, and the land assigned to Black families was revoked. UNITED STATES – CIRCA 1902: African American man with horse cultivating cotton with plow, N.C. … [+] (Photo by Buyenlarge/Getty Images) Getty Images A generation later, a passionate and driven activist named Callie House emerged. In 1898, she played a key role in founding the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and...