Advocates who say black Americans should be compensated for slavery and its Jim Crow aftermath are quietly chalking up victories and gaining momentum.
Fueled by the work of scholars and lawyers, their campaign has morphed in recent years from a fringe-group rallying cry into a sophisticated, mainstream movement. Most recently, a pair of churches apologized for their part in the slave trade, and one is studying ways to repay black church members.
The overall issue is hardly settled, even among black Americans. Some say that focusing on slavery shouldn’t be a top priority or that it doesn’t make sense to compensate people generations after a historical wrong.
Yet reparation efforts have led a number of cities and states to approve measures that force businesses to publicize their historical ties to slavery. Several court cases are in progress, and international human-rights officials are increasingly spotlighting the issue.
“This matter is growing in significance rather than declining,” said Charles Ogletree, a Harvard law professor and a leading reparation activist. “It has more vigor and vitality in the 21st century than it’s had in the history of the reparations movement.”
The most recent victories for reparations advocates came in June, when the Moravian Church and the Episcopal Church apologized for owning slaves and promised to battle racism.
The Episcopalians also launched a national, years-long probe into church slavery links and into whether the church should compensate black members. A white church member, Katrina Browne, screened a documentary focusing on white culpability at the denomination’s national assembly.
The Episcopalians debated slavery and reparations for years before reaching an agreement, said Jayne Oasin, social justice officer for the denomination, who will oversee its work on the issue.
Historically, slavery was an uncomfortable topic for the church.
Some Episcopal bishops owned slaves – and the Bible was used to justify the practice, Oasin said.
“Why not (take these steps) 100 years ago?” she said. “Let’s talk about the complicity of the Episcopal Church as one of the institutions of this country who, of course, benefited from slavery.”
Browne is finishing a documentary about her ancestors, the DeWolfs of Bristol, R.I., the biggest slave-trading family in U.S. history. She screened “Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North” for Episcopal Church officials at the June convention.
“A lot of white people think they know everything there is to know about slavery – we all agree it was wrong, and that’s enough,” Browne said. “But this was the foundation of our country, not some Southern anomaly. We all inherit responsibility.”
