Description

Slavery and the Atlantic slave trade are among the most heinous crimes against
humanity committed in the modern era. Yet, to this day no former slave society
in the Americas has paid reparations to former slaves or their descendants. Ana
Lucia Araujo shows that these calls for reparations have persevered over a long
and difficult history. She traces the ways in which enslaved and freed individuals
have conceptualized the idea of reparations since the 18th century in petitions,
correspondence, pamphlets, public speeches, slave narratives, and judicial
claims. Taking the reader through the era of slavery, emancipation, post-abolition,
and the present day and drawing on the voices of various of enslaved peoples
and their descendants, the book illuminates the multiple dimensions of the
demands of reparations.

This new edition boasts a new chapter on the global impact of the Black Lives
Matter movement, the seismic effect of the killing of George Floyd, calls for
university reparations and the dismantling of statues. Updated throughout, this
edition includes primary sources, further readings, and many illustrations.