Several rock figures and a stone memorial stand outside of Baldwin Hall. Baldwin Hall has been the center of an ongoing controversy over reparations for the descendants of former slaves after African-American remains were found during a reconstruction project.”(African-Americans) need recognition of all of that trauma and pain (that occurred because of slavery),” UGA student and Athens for Everyone President Rachelle Berry said. “We need therapy, we need self care, but we need more than self care, we need community care. To be able to do that, you have to have a lot of resources. To have all those resources is a symbolic understanding that there was harm done, and (that) this harm is going to be helped.” Photo by Luna Reichert
To rectify the mistreatment of African-American communities during slavery, demands for reparations have recently taken shape in the United States and more locally at the University of Georgia.
Institutions in the United States such as the University of Georgia are re-examining their slave-holding history and its modern ramifications as descendents of slaves push for reparations — compensation for the mistreatment of enslaved African-Americans and resulting racial inequality.
At the end of the Civil War, all freedmen were promised 40 acres and a mule by President Abraham Lincoln to begin cultivating land to make a living. However, according to UGA assistant professor of Digital Humanities Scott Nesbit, the agreement was breached when President Andrew Johnson took power.
“(Johnson) made the strategic decision to, by May of 1865, pivot away from the idea of supporting African-Americans. He began to sign pardons to secessionist slaveholders, one after another after another all summer of 1865,” Nesbit said. “He stripped all the land away from (freedmen) and gave it back to the former owners.”
Reparations are most commonly presented as monetary compensation for descendants of slaves. Alternatively, these settlements can also be made in the form of restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction or guarantees of non-repetition. Proposals for reparations typically take place within businesses, churches and universities.
A graphic displays the five types of reparations. These forms all offer justice to descendants of slavery for mistreatment during slavery. “There are letters dating from 1865 or so of people who recently who’d escaped from slavery, writing the people who had previously claimed to own them, saying, ‘Well, here’s how much I tally you owe me for all the years that I worked on your farm,’” UGA assistant professor of digital humanities Scott Nesbit said. “It has not just roots in federal legislation, but also roots in people’s consciousness about what is for that labor, from the get go.” Graphic by Audrey Kennedy
“The bulk of the conversation started in the (1960s) and (1970s), and (the idea of reparations) really wasn’t received that well. Up to the last couple of years, it still hasn’t been something that the majority of Americans see that needs to be done,” Athens Anti-Discrimmination Movement (AADM) Co-founder Knowa Johnson said.
According to Johnson, other cultural groups such as Native Americans and Japanese-Americans have received reparations in the past for various forms of mistreatment, which may provide a model for modern-day reparations for slavery.
“America hasn’t had this conversation and hasn’t settled this situation, (and) it puzzles me how we can be progressive and how we can move forward, be this superpower and this understanding country when we still have that in our history.”
— Knowa Johnson,
Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement (AADM) Co-founder
“There’ve been reparations paid several times, and each one of those times there was a method that it was paid. I think we could learn from that,” Johnson said. “America hasn’t had this conversation and hasn’t settled this situation, (and) it puzzles me how we can be progressive and how we can move forward, be this superpower and this understanding country when we still have that in our history.”
Within the last few years, the discussion of slavery at UGA has largely centered around the discovery of enslaved people’s remains under Baldwin Hall and the controversy that ensued.
“We asked that they treat the remains with respect, and we asked that there be a memorial service, a religious service, where they were buried with a minister and that type of thing. Lately, UGA announced a couple (of those) things would happen,” Athens Area Black History Committee Co-chair Fred Smith said. “But, we also asked to be included in the process, and that is one place where (administration) refused to allow us any input in the process.”
Many universities in the United States are pushing for such reparations for descendants of slaves. UGA student and Athens for Everyone President Rachelle Berry feels that certain monetary reparations for descendants of slaves at UGA are necessary.
“(The UGA activist base) had very specific demands that we thought were very reparational, (including) all Black students from Athens getting full-ride scholarships, and more money put to diversity and for things that would be given to students of color,” Berry said.
A memorial to the remains of enslaved people discovered under Baldwin Hall stands outside the building. The memorial was unveiled on Nov. 16, 2018. “In 1938, when Baldwin Hall was constructed, Black folks really didn’t have any rights in (Athens) and (Georgia). It was quite shocking in 2016 that human remains was treated this way — to me, with disrespect,” Athens-Area Black History Bowl Committee Co-chair Fred Smith said. Photo by Luna Reichert
Berry believes the success of such reparations will force the university to acknowledge its past.
“We have to understand that (enslaved) people, in their lives, were cleaning up after the people of the university, (and) they were being terrorized by them. There was massive violence, lynchings in (the area), and there were forced removals in the 1930s where neighborhoods were knocked down for the university,” Berry said. “We need recognition of all of that trauma and pain.”
In order to articulate these requests, a group of UGA students delivered a letter to UGA President Jere Morehead on April 15 outlining their demands. In response, the group received pushback from administration.
“We are in the midst of a fundraising campaign to benefit the institution, and we are actively raising funds for scholarships that meet legal requirements,” UGA Executive Director of Media Communications Greg Trevor said. “While we are not permitted to provide race-based undergraduate scholarships, we have created more than 460 need-based Georgia Commitment Scholarships since 2017.”
Following Morehead’s rejection of the activists’ demands, on April 29, many UGA students participated in the March for Recognition and Redress organized by Athens For Everyone at UGA. The group demanded full-ride scholarships for descendants of slaves.
“(The march was) all to bring awareness and for people to understand that we need change. And it did bring a different awareness, because I think the (Atlanta Journal Constitution) picked up on it,” AADM Co-Founder Mokah Jasmine Johnson said.
On Aug. 7, the university announced new funding for research about the history of slavery at UGA.
“The university offered $100,000 to study the history of slavery. That money is to write books about the (university’s ties to slavery). The proposal was put forth, it’s being overseen by the provost,” Berry said.
Athens Anti-Discrimmination Movement co-founder Mokah Jasmine Johnson poses with an anti-discrimination sign. Jasmine Johnson has been involved in various protests in favor of reparations at UGA in the last year. “What about giving (descendants of slaves) a scholarship? Therefore that person can empower themselves and then they can empower their families, because it’s a generational wealth gap that’s going on. You gave me the power to empower myself to empower my family to empower the next generation that comes after me,” Jasmine Jonson said. Photo by Krista Shumaker
However, some feel this most recent initiative will not adequately address the activists’ demands, leaving the state of reparations at UGA unresolved.
“How is a research studio or institution going to empower the disenfranchised community? How is it going to how is it going to fix the people that have suffered from oppression?” Jasmine Johnson said. “That to me is another way of funding the school — (it) is funding the institution.”
According to Alvin Sheats, President of the Athens chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), inequality in the education system is a modern manifestation of the United States’ ties with slavery.
“It’s going to be very imperative that our future generations realize they’re going to have to get a second level of education, vocational or college, in order to have a quality of life in this country,” Sheats said. “Give (descendants of slaves) the opportunity to go to school, for wherever their aptitude allows them to attend. Now that’s true reparation for the lack of knowledge.”
According to Clarke Central High School Associate Principal Reginald Thomas, slavery also has a systemic impact on high school students.
“Minorities are at a disadvantage (in schools) because of all of these years of slavery when slaves weren’t allowed to learn how to read, write and receive education. Even past that, we had segregation in schools and the quality of education,” Thomas said.
“Even though our education system has allowed for equal representation, we don’t always have the means to fund our equal education.”
— Jasani Byrd,
CCHS Black Culture Club president
According to CCHS Black Culture Club president Jasani Byrd, the establishment of generational wealth among African-American communities could help rectify this inequality.
“When you think about Ivy Leagues now, it’s very difficult for African-Americans to get in because (others have) had a chance to get generational wealth,” Byrd said. “Even though our education system has allowed for equal representation, we don’t always have the means to fund our equal education.”
On a larger scale, reparations have been discussed in the context of the 2020 presidential election. Byrd believes that such nation-wide reparations could elicit deeper issues within the United States.
“(Nation-wide reparations) would affect the American economy negatively, and also socially. I feel like it could divide a country because (the government could) feel as if people are more deserving (of reparations),” Byrd said. “We also have to take into account where that money comes from and, more than likely, that would come from people’s taxes.”
According to Johnson, the future of reparations will depend on the mindset of the general public.
“The consciousness of the people are starting to feel like if we’re going to move forward as a country, diversity is going to be a strong point. We need to look out for the people, or at least listen to the people, who have helped build this country. (They) have been a part in (adding) to the culture and adding to the inventions and everything,” Johnson said. “If (the history of slavery) is something that pains them, we should listen.”
