Indispensable preliminaries
pt. I. Why reparations? : slavery and its aftermath
1. The conditions of slavery
Reading 1. Incidents in the life of a slave girl / Harriet Jacobs
Reading 2. What to the slave is the 4th of July? / Frederick Douglass
2. Restoring white supremacy : Jim Crow
3. The continuing injuries of slavery and Jim Crow
4. Slavery's insults : the continuing nonmaterial injuries of slavery
pt. II. Early reparations initiatives
5. The nineteenth century
Reading 1. Reparations bill for the African slaves in the United States / The First Session Fortieth Congress
Reading 2. The 1867 slave reparation bill / Thaddeus Stevens, quoted speaking to the U.S. House of Representatives on section 4 of H.R. 29
6. The mid-twentieth century
Reading 1. The Black manifesto (1969) / James Forman
Reading 2. Compensatory justice and the Black manifesto / Hugo Bedau
Reading 2. H.R. 40, IH 33, 106th Congress, 1st session
Reading 4. The official record from Hansard of the debate initiated by Lord Gifford QC in the House of Lords of the British Parliament on 14th March 1996 concerning the African reparations
pt. III. The contemporary moral debate over restitution
7. Reparations for slavery in the popular press
Reading 1. Ten reasons why reparations for Blacks is a bad idea for Blacks, and racist too / David Horowitz
Reading 2. Ten reasons : a response to David Horowitz / Ernest Allen Jr., Robert Chrisman
8. Reparations for slavery in scholarly writing
Reading 1. The case for reparations / Robert K. Fullinwider
Reading 2. The case against reparations / Stephen Kershnar
pt. IV. Underlying questions of responsibility and entitlement
9. Collective responsibility : am I responsible for the misdeeds of others?
Reading 1. Collective responsibility / Nicholas Rescher
Reading 2. Relationships and responsibilities / Samuel Scheffler
10. Historical responsibility : are the sins of the fathers to be visited on their great-great-grandchildren?
Reading 1. Ancient wrongs and modern rights / George Sher
Reading 2. Superseding historic injustice / Jeremy Waldron
Reading 3. Historical obligations / Janna Thompson
Reading 4. Historical injustices and reparations : justifying claims of descendants / Janna Thompson
Important subsidiary issues
pt. V. Some devilish details
Reading 1. Making the case for racial reparations / Harper's Magazine
12. Economic calculations
Reading 1. 'Wealth matters' from Being black, living in the red / Dalton Conley
13. Between vengeance and forgiveness
Reading 1. From Between vengeance and forgiveness / Martha Minow.
