Recommended Reading List for Reparations
Compiled by
Natalie Rozzell
Reparations is the hottest issue on the Black political agenda. While many people know that
reparations are owed to American Freedmen, some do not know what a reparations plan should
look like. The list of books below is recommended by the DMV Freedmen. The list contains
books that explore what reparations can look like and how it can transform the lives of those
who stand in the shoes of emancipated people in the United States. Some books also delve into
why reparations are so sorely needed to repair our people and reconstruct our communities.
These books make excellent holiday gifts for your friends and family members, especially your
children and grandchildren, who are not being taught the full history of our country in schools.
1. From Here to Equality, Second Edition: Reparations for Black Americans in the
Twenty-First Century, by William A. “Sandy” Darity, Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen
Synopsis:
“Racism and discrimination have choked economic opportunity for African Americans at nearly every
turn. At several historic moments, the trajectory of racial inequality could have been altered
dramatically. But neither Reconstruction nor the New Deal nor the civil rights struggle led to an
economically just and fair nation. Today, systematic inequality persists in the form of housing
discrimination, unequal education, police brutality, mass incarceration, employment discrimination,
and massive wealth and opportunity gaps. Economic data indicates that for every dollar the average
white household holds in wealth the average black household possesses a mere ten cents.
This compelling and sharply argued book addresses economic injustices head-on and make the
most comprehensive case to date for economic reparations for U.S. descendants of slavery. Using
innovative methods that link monetary values to historical wrongs, William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten
Mullen assess the literal and figurative costs of justice denied in the 155 years since the end of the
Civil War and offer a detailed roadmap for an effective reparations program, including a substantial
payment to each documented U.S. black descendant of slavery. This new edition features a new
foreword addressing the latest developments on the local, state, and federal level and considering
current prospects for a comprehensive reparations program.”
Available on Paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook
2. The Black Reparations Project: A Handbook for Racial Justice by William A. “Sandy”
Darity, Jr., A. Kirsten Mullen, and Lucas Hubbard
Synopsis:
“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.”
Hardcover available for Pre-order; release in May 2023
3. How White Folks Got So Rich: The Untold Story of American White Supremacy
(The Architecture of White Supremacy Book Series) by Reclamation Project (2012)
Synopsis:
“Updated and expanded pocket-size expose' of American WHITE SUPREMACY. This booklet
explores the government policies, the corporate schemes, the \"special arrangements,\" the racist
and devious actions that are at the very foundation of White Wealth in America. If you thought
Whites achieved their riches through \"hard work,\" you definitely NEED this book. 192 pages, fully
illustrated, and retails for less than $10.”
Available on Kindle and Perfect Paperback
4. Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-Year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias,
and Depression of Black Wealth by Roy Beck
Synopsis:
“One hundred fifty years after the end of slavery and nearly 60 years after the passage of the civil
rights laws of the 1960s, average Black household wealth in the 21st century remains a fraction of
the median assets of other racial, ethnic, and immigrant populations.
There are many reasons, but this book is about one: two centuries of governmental encouragement
of periodic sustained surges in immigration.
Governmental policies and actions have enabled employers to depress Black wages and to avoid
hiring African Americans altogether.
Here is a grand sweep of the little-told stories of the struggles of freed slaves and their descendants
to climb job ladders in the eras of Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, A. Philip
Randolph, Barbara Jordan, and other African American leaders who advocated for tight labor
migration policies. It is a history of bitter disappointments and, occasionally, of great hope:
● Setback: the first European immigration surge after 1820 and the ensuing, sometimes
violent, labor competition
● Hope: the post-Civil War opening of the "golden door" to Northern and Western jobs
● Setback: the Ellis Island-era great wave of immigration
● Hope: Major reductions in immigration in the mid-20th century creates a labor demand
among Northern and Western industrialists so great that they aggressively recruited
descendants of slavery and precipitated the Great Migration of Black Southerners
● Setback: In 1965, Congress accidentally restarts mass immigration
Looking to the future, the author finds in the past assurance that any immigration policy that helps
move more Black workers into the labor force and increases their wealth accumulation will also
assist struggling Hispanics and other populations of recent immigration.”
Available on Paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook
5. Reconstructing Democracy: Grassroots Black Politics in the Deep South after the
Civil War by Justin Behrend
Synopsis:
“Former slaves, with no prior experience in electoral politics and with few economic resources or
little significant social standing, created a sweeping political movement that transformed the South
after the Civil War. Within a few short years after emancipation, not only were black men voting but
they had elected thousands of ex-slaves to political offices. Historians have long noted the role of
African American slaves in the fight for their emancipation and their many efforts to secure their
freedom and citizenship, yet they have given surprisingly little attention to the system of governance
that freedpeople helped to fashion. Justin Behrend argues that freedpeople created a new
democracy in the Reconstruction era, replacing the oligarchic rule of slaveholders and Confederates
with a grassroots democracy.
Reconstructing Democracy tells this story through the experiences of ordinary people who lived in
the Natchez District, a region of the Deep South where black political mobilization was very
successful. Behrend shows how freedpeople set up a political system rooted in egalitarian values
wherein local communities rather than powerful individuals held power and ordinary people
exercised unprecedented influence in governance. In so doing, he invites us to reconsider not only
our understanding of Reconstruction but also the nature and origins of democracy more broadly.”
Available on Hardcover, Kindle, and Paperback
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Happy Holidays!
