Reparations Lecture Series

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

- How have black lives been devalued in America from 1619 to 2022?
- How did the historical mistreatment of blacks in America evolve from the time of the first
enslaved Africans being brought to Jamestown, through modern times?
- What psychological damage was done to blacks during slavery and Jim Crow?
How does the historical inferiority complex suffered by blacks 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 blacks?
- 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 African American lives?

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 Blacks been systematically been excluded from benefiting from the American
economy in jobs, business ownership and access to capitol to own homes and businesses?
What does the current state of Blacks economically 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:

- Takes a closer look at the role of the criminal justice system, 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 they create the social
construction of race and the hierarchy of race that puts black people at the bottom of that value
system?
What is now known about the effects of trauma resulting from the devaluation of black lives over
generations?

"We are coming to get our check." Martin Luther King, Jr.