Reparations Lecture Series

Takes a broad look at the hidden history many of us didn’t learn:

- How have the lives of black people been devalued in America from 1619 to 2022?
- How did the historical mistreatment of black people in America evolve from the time of the first
enslaved Africans being brought to Jamestown, through modern times?
- What psychological damage was done to black people  during slavery and Jim Crow?
How does the historical inferiority complex suffered by black people impact present-day self-
devaluation, self-hatred and intra-personal violence?

Takes a closer look at the role of the traditional and the modern criminal justice system, including:
- How did slave patrols lead to the first organized police departments in the country?
- Where, when, and why did night riding, lynchings, and race riots happen – and what
repercussions from these are still felt today?
- How did the current relationship between the police and the Black community evolve?
- What role did race play in creating and maintaining the War on Drugs?
- What accounts for the racial disparities in the application of the death penalty?

Takes a closer look at the role of law and politics, including:

- How did laws in the colonies create legalized slavery?
- What were the debates about slavery and citizenship rights for black people?
- Why was a Civil Rights movement necessary in light of the legal protections already in place?

- What roles have political parties, presidents, and the legislative and judicial branches of our government played in the plight of black people?

Takes a closer look at the role of the economic system during slavery and post slavery, including:
- What is the value of twelve generations of free labor by Black people?

- What role did this free labor play in creating the most powerful economy in the world?
- How have black people been systematically excluded from benefiting from the American
economy in jobs, business ownership and access to capitol to own homes and businesses?
- What does the current economic state of black people tell us about the long-term impact of exclusion from a “free” economy?

Takes a closer look at the role of science and medicine, including:

- Is it true that black bodies have been used as experimental tools by medical schools and the US government?
- How did the field of psychology view people of African descent?

- How did the creation of the social construction and the hierarchy of race put black people at the bottom?
- What do we now know about the effects of trauma resulting from the devaluation of black lives over generations?

“And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty. Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.”
-Deuteronomy 15:13 -14