AAS 6001: Introduction to Black Reparations in The United States

“Our purpose in life is to leave a legacy for our

children and our children’s children. For this reason,
we must correct history that at present denies our
humanity and self-respect.”​ ​- ​Audley Queen
Mother Moore

Credit Hours: 3 hours credit

Semester: Spring 2021
Level: Undergraduate/Graduate Cross listed
CRN: 0000
Instructor: Tatiana Reis, BA Graduate Student Georgia State University
Class location: Online/Your comfort zone
Class meeting: Mondays at 12:00pm via WebEx
Office location: Online ​treis1@student.gsu.edu
Office telephone: (401) 359-9926
Office hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:30-4:00 pm or via appointment
E-mail: treis1@student.gsu.edu

Course Description
This course explores the historical nature of the Reparations Movement within the United States
and its impact on Black Americans. This course is designed to teach students how to think
critically about historical events, analyze historical pieces of writing, and be conscious of
historical figures and their circumstances in the world.

Specific Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will:

● Be able to define what Reparations is as defined by the United Nations

● Identify the prominent figures in the Early Reparations Movement and the Current
Reparations Movement
● Identify and analyze legal, historical, financial, psychological, and social arguments for
Reparations
● Identify at least three organizations who are currently working towards Reparations
● Articulate historical events related to the Reparations Movement
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Course Text

Required Reading:

Should America Pay? Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations by Raymond A. Winbush,
Ph.D.

From Here to Equality: Reparations For Black Americans In the Twenty-First Century by
William A. Darity Jr. and A. Kristen Mullen

The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

Somebody Has to Pay: Audley Moore, Mother of The Reparations Movement By Ashley Farmer

Attendance
All students are expected to attend each class and participate.. All reasons for excused absences
must be submitted in writing via email to the professor. Each circumstance of each student will
be treated as an individual case. If you appear on the official roll, missing the first class is an
absence.Three unexcused absences are given to each student. After three unexcused absences
your grade will be lowered by 5 points.

Missed Examinations/Assignments Policy

Students will be allowed to retake up to three (3) missed examinations and assignments up to two
weeks prior to the end of the semester. Students will also be allowed to resubmit up to three (3)
assignments for a higher grade as long as it is submitted two weeks before the end of the
semester.

Academic Honesty
This academic honesty statement is adopted from the Faculty Affairs Handbook at Georgia State
University.
As members of the academic community, students are expected to recognize and uphold
standards of intellectual and academic integrity. The university assumes as a basic and minimum
standard of conduct in academic matters that students be honest and that they submit for credit
only the products of their own efforts. Both the ideals of scholarship and the need for fairness
require that all dishonest work be rejected as a basis for academic credit. They also require that
students refrain from all forms of dishonorable or unethical conduct related to their academic
work.
The university's policy on academic honesty is published in the ​Faculty Affairs Handbook a​ nd
the ​On Campus: The Undergraduate Co-Curricular Affairs Handbook​ and is available to all
members of the university community. The policy represents a core value of the university and
all members of the university community are responsible for abiding by its tenets. Lack of
knowledge of this policy is not an acceptable defense to any charge of academic dishonesty. All
members of the academic community -- students, faculty, and staff -- are expected to report

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violations of these standards of academic conduct to the appropriate authorities. The procedures
for such reporting are on file in the offices of the deans of each college, the office of the dean of
students, and the office of the provost.
To foster an environment of academic integrity and to prevent academic dishonesty, students are
expected to discuss with faculty the expectations regarding course assignments and standards of
conduct. Students are encouraged to discuss freely with faculty, academic advisors, and other
members of the university community any questions pertaining to the provisions of this policy.
In addition, students are encouraged to avail themselves of programs in establishing personal
standards and ethics offered through the university's Counseling Center.
https://counselingcenter.gsu.edu/

Requirements

Discussion Posts
Students will be required to participate in (7) discussions on iCollege. Each student is required to
respond to the posted question or respond to a classmates response for credit. Each post should
be a minimum of 100 words and display an understanding of what the previous class entailed.

Class Debate
Students will lead a class debate on the common arguments for and against Reparations for
Black Americans. Students will be randomly assigned a position and must use at least (3) sources
to defend their argument. Students will be graded on their preparation and participation.

Midterm Timeline Project

Students will create a Reparations timeline consisting of at least 10 major dates. Students are
invited to present this timeline in any form they choose. Each project must be submitted with a
references page for a grade. All midterms submitted without a references page will automatically
be given a zero.

Final Multimedia Project

Students will create a multimedia project on a topic of their choosing as long as it relates to the
Reparations Movement in the United States. Each project must contain more than one form of
media (Examples: music, powerpoint, images, poetry, etc). There must be at least 10 images
submitted alongside a references page for both the sources used for this topic and where the
images were obtained. Any project submitted without a proper reference page for the media use
and sources will be automatically given a zero.

Class Participation
Students are expected to attend and participate in class. This means asking questions, responding
to posed questions, and submitting discussion posts and assignments.

Grading:

Discussion Posts: 20
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 Class Debate: 10

Midterm: Reparations Movement Timeline Project: 30

Final Project: Multimedia Project: 30

Class Participation: 10

Total Grade: 100

Course Schedule

Week/Topic Class work Required Items due:

Reading

Week 1: Introduction Introductions Syllabus Come to class with questions

Q+A on the syllabus and overall
Syllabus Review class questions, comments,
concerns

Week 2: What Is Lecture The Case For Come with questions on the
Reparations? Historical Reparations by article and for our special
Overview Ta-Nehisi Coates guest

Week 3 Early Reparations Lecture Winbush, pgs. Discussion Post 1

Movement Special Guest: Dr. 323-348
Akinyele Umoja Darity pgs. 9-28

Week 4 Current Lecture Winbush, pgs. Discussion Post 2

Reparations Movement 363-385

Week 5 Black Women and Lecture Somebody Has Discussion Post 3

Their Role In The Jeopardy Game! (extra To Pay By Ashley
Reparations Movement credit opportunity) Farmer

Week 6 Organizational Special Guests from Winbush pgs. Prepare for Midterm
work vs Individual Impact of N’COBRA, Movement for 209-226 Timeline Project
Reparations Activists Black Lives

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Week 7 Midterm Project Presentation of Midterm:
Timeline Project

Week/Topic Class work Required Reading Items due:

Week 8: Arguments For Lecture Darity pgs. Discussion Post 4

And Against Reparations Open Discussion 239-256 or
Winbush 165-197
(pick one)

Week 9: Legal Debate for Lecture Winbush pgs. Discussion Post 5

Reparations 79-109.

Week 10: Knowledge Class debate (extra credit Ashville and Discussion Post 6
Check In. opportunity) Burlington News
Article (iCollege)
with questions for
presenters

Week 11: Ashville, NC + Special Guests from Ashville PVD and Evanston Discussion Post 7
Burlington, VT and Burlington Reparations News
Reparations Bill Debrief Articles (iCollege)
with questions for
presenters

Week 12: Providence, RI + Special Guests from PVD Review Final Submit any questions
Evanston, IL Reparations and Evanston Project about the final via email
Bill Debrief Requirements

Week 13: No class-office hours Prepare for Final Project

Week 14: Final Project Multimedia Project Final Multimedia Project

Due Presentations

Possible Additional Supplemental Reading:

1. Adjoa A. Aiyetoro & Adrienne D. Davis, Historic and Modern Social Movements for
Reparations: The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N'COBRA)
and Its Antecedents, 16 Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 687 (2010).

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2. Allen, Ernest & Chrisman, Robert. (2001). Ten Reasons: A Response to David Horowitz.
The Black Scholar. 31. 49-55. DOI: 10.1080/00064246.2001.11431146.
3. Aulette, J., Langley, S., & Aulette, A. (2004). Finding Strategies for Winning
Reparations for African Americans. ​Race, Gender & Class,​ ​11(​ 4), 184-199. Retrieved
October 21, 2020, from ​http://www.jstor.org/stable/43496826
4. Beckles, H. (2013). ​Britain's black debt: Reparations for Caribbean slavery and native
genocide​. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press.
5. Berry, M. F. (2005). ​My face is black is true: Callie House and the struggle for ex-slave
reparations.​ New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
6. Churchill, Ward. (2000). Charades, anyone? The Indian Claims Commission in context
(American Indians, relations with US government). American Indian culture and research
journal. 24. 43-68. 10.17953/aicr.24.1.tu7uq67k3p849368.
7. Coates Ta-Nehisi. (2014). “The Case For Reparations,” The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
8. Darity, William, and Dania Frank. “The Economics of Reparations.” ​The American
Economic Review,​ vol. 93, no. 2, 2003, pp. 326–329. ​JSTOR​,
www.jstor.org/stable/3132248. Accessed 27 Oct. 2020.
9. Farmer, A.D. (2018). "Somebody Has to Pay": Audley Moore and the Modern
Reparations Movement. ​Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black
International, 7,​ 108 - 134.
10. Finkenbine, R. (2007). Belinda's Petition: Reparations for Slavery in Revolutionary
Massachusetts. The William and Mary Quarterly, 64(1), third series, 95-104. Retrieved
October 21, 2020, from ​http://www.jstor.org/stable/4491599
11. Horowitz, David, "Ten reasons why reparations for slavery is a bad idea--and racist too"
(2001). ​Brown Olio.​ Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:40830/
12. . Iijima, Chris K. ​Reparations and the "Model Minority" Ideology of Acquiescence: The
Necessity to Refuse the Return to Original Humiliation​, 19 B.C. Third World L.J. 385
(1998), ​https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/twlj/vol19/iss1/1
13. Elaine Allen Lechtreck. (2012). “WE ARE DEMANDING $500 MILLION FOR
REPARATIONS”: THE BLACK MANIFESTO, MAINLINE RELIGIOUS
DENOMINATIONS, AND BLACK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. ​The Journal of
African American History,​ ​97​(1–2), 39-71. doi:10.5323/jafriamerhist.97.1-2.0039
14. OBADELE, I. (1974). THE STRUGGLE OF THE REPUBLIC OF NEW AFRICA. ​The
Black Scholar,​ ​5​(9), 32-41. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41065737
15. Rodney, W. (1972). ​How Europe underdeveloped Africa.​ London: Bogle-L'Ouverture
Publications.
16. Saito, Natsu Taylor, "Redressing Foundational Wrongs" (2019). ​Faculty Publications By
Year.​ 2855. https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/faculty_pub/2855

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17. Saito, Natsu Taylor, Tales of Color and Colonialism: Racial Realism and Settler Colonial
Theory (2015). Florida A & M University Law Review, Vol. 11, 2015, Forthcoming,
Georgia State University College of Law, Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2015-07,
Available at SSRN: ​https://ssrn.com/abstract=2593120
18. Umoja, Akinyele. (2018). Matriarch of the Captive African Nation: Recollections of
Queen Mother Moore. Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black
International. 7. 177-180. 10.1353/pal.2018.0025.
19. Winbush, R. A. 1. (2003). ​Should America Pay?: slavery and the raging debate on
reparations.​ New York: Amistad.
20. Yamamoto, Eric & Serrano, Susan & Rodriguez, Michelle. (2003). American Racial
Justice on Trial -- Again: African American Reparations, Human Rights, and the War on
Terror. Michigan Law Review. 101. 1269. 10.2307/3595376.