Research Guides are online bibliographies to key resources by topic available through the UW library system. The latest research guide by the Law Library is on Repair and Reparations for African Americans.  A recent federal bill sponsored and introduced by Congresswoman, Sheila Jackson Lee, of Texas, H.R. 40, would establish a commission to study proposals for reparations for African Americans.  The debate regarding reparations and what they might look like for the descendants of slavery has been argued since the Reconstruction era, and can be dated back to colonial times.  For more on this see the 2019 article from the Wall Street Journal:

The Long History of American Slavery Reparations; From the colonial era to today, the bitter legacy of bondage and racial oppression has sparked demands for compensation, with some successes and many broken promises

However, recent events and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement have renewed the debate on the issue of reparations. This guide pulls together scholarship, research, and studies on reparations.  

If you would like to request a topic for a research guide, please contact the Law Library at asklawref@law.wisc.edu.

Submitted by Jenny Zook, Reference Librarian on April 15, 2021

This article appears in the categories: Law Library