The Black Reparations Project: A Handbook for Racial Justice - The Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University

Overview

This groundbreaking resource moves us from theory to action with a practical plan for reparations.

A surge in interest in black reparations is taking place in America on a scale not seen since the Reconstruction Era. The Black Reparations Project gathers an accomplished interdisciplinary team of scholars-members of the Reparations Planning Committee-who have considered the issues pertinent to making reparations happen. This book will be an essential resource in the national conversation going forward.

The first section of The Black Reparations Project crystallizes the rationale for reparations, cataloguing centuries of racial repression, discrimination, violence, mass incarceration, and the immense black-white wealth gap. Drawing on the contributors’ expertise in economics, history, law, public policy, public health, and education, the second section unfurls direct guidance for building and implementing a reparations program, including draft legislation that addresses how the program should be financed and how claimants can be identified and compensated. Rigorous and comprehensive, The Black Reparations Project will motivate, guide, and speed the final leg of the journey for justice.

Editorial Reviews

“A valuable asset for activists and lawmakers seeking to advance the cause of reparations.”

— Publishers Weekly

“A must-read for local, state, and federal politicians; college students studying social justice; and pretty much every American who has ever thought, ‘Reparations? That’ll never happen.'”

— INDYWeek

“Well organized and presented in a thought-provoking manner that provides a great case for the progression of reparations.”

— Criminal Justice Review

“This edited volume is an in-depth exploration of what it might mean for African Americans to be compensated for the damages of slavery, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration. The book includes ten chapters that discuss reparations policy in great detail. Overall, the book is an important contribution to the centuries long debate over Black reparations in the United States.”

— Ethnic and Racial Studies

“Excellent scholarship that is at once thorough and accessible. This volume painstakingly connects the justification for and the implementation of reparations across the various facets of life, from housing to education and health.”—Rhonda V. Sharpe, founder and President of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity, and Race

“A magnificent achievement and a sterling work of interdisciplinary scholarship, grounded in the assumption that readers share fundamental values of fairness and equity that transcend time, place, and political affiliation.”—Paul Ortiz, author of An African American and Latinx History of the United States

About the Authors

William A. Darity Jr., “Sandy”, is Samuel DuBois Cook Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and Economics at Duke University.

A. Kirsten Mullen is a writer, folklorist, museum consultant, and lecturer whose work focuses on race, art, history, and politics

Professional headshot of Lucas Hubbard

Lucas Hubbard is a Research Associate at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University.

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