the Case for Reparations

Activity 4
The Case for Reparations – Ta Nehisi Coates

Answer the questions using the article, The Case for Reparations.
Do not use outside sources. Using any outside sources will result in a zero grade.
All answers must be completely in your own words (that is, paraphrased). Copying directly from or too closely to the original text – even just one answers – will result in a zero grade for the entire assignment.
Be sure to use complete sentences.
If you want to use colored font, that’s fine. Darker blues/purples/greens work well. Do not use red/pink/orange fonts or highlighting.

Article Section I
What two methods were used to keep African Americans from voting in 1920s Mississippi? (You can just list the two, you don’t need a complete sentence here).

What is “debt peonage”? Why did so many African American farmers live in it, and why didn’t they protest the conditions?

What were the reasons for the Great Migration?

Why did Clyde Ross and his wife choose to buy a house in North Lawndale, IL?

What is a “contract” sale/”contract” mortgage? How did the system work?

How were African Americans kept out of the legitimate home mortgage market?

In 1934, Congress created the FHA (Federal Housing Administration), which insured private mortgages. Yet, African Americans could not get them – why not? Include a discussion of redlining in your answer (what it is, how it worked, etc.)

In 1968, the Contract Buyer’s League was formed. Why? What were their purposes/goals?

Section II
What was the “fate” of North Lawndale, IL, an early experiment in integration? That is, what is North Lawndale like today?

Section III
How was the concept of reparations viewed in the 1700s? Give specific examples.

Section IV
How were the early slaves treated in Virginia? How were their situations both similar and different to those of poor whites in the 1600s-1700s?

How did American law “work to reduce black people to a class of untouchables?”

Why were slaves so important to the economy in the US (both north and south)?

Section V
What is the connection between the New Deal and Jim Crow Laws? Were African Americans able to make use of such programs as Social Security and the GI Bill?

How did the Federal Government and the American real estate industry work to
encourage and maintain racial housing segregation?

Section VI
How did Chicago become one of the most segregated cities in the US? (provide specific examples of techniques, laws, court cases, and citizen actions)

Section VII
Describe the process of “block busting” and what the effects were.

Section VIII
What did Lyndon Johnson mean by the statement that, “Negro poverty is not white poverty” (1965)?

Section IX
What does the author mean, specifically, by the term “reparations”? (Hint: he is not talking about money)

Section X
After WWII, Germany was required to make reparations to Jews in the form of payments to Israel. What did “ordinary” Germans think about reparations? Did Israeli Jews want to accept reparations (why/why not)?

Has the practice of race-based predatory mortgage lending ended, or does it still occur? Back your answer up with info from the article.

Do you think, based on the history of enslavement, racism, economic exploitation, enforced segregation, and predatory mortgage lending that the idea of reparations (as outlined by the article’s author) in the US should be studied, as proposed by John Conyer’s HR 40? Explain why or why not.