Repairing a Nation: A visual exploration into the American debate on reparations for slavery

Student: Desi LaPoole
Major: Journalism & Society (self design)
Advisors: Denise Bostdorff, Angie Bos

The debate on reparations for slavery in the United States of America has persisted for generations, capturing the attention and imagination of America in waves before falling out of public consciousness over the decades. Throughout its longevity, the debate on reparations has had many arguments in support of and opposition towards the idea and has inspired many different proposals which seek to solve many different problems. Today, reparations have found new mainstream attention, thanks in part Ta-Nehisi Coates’ article, “The Case for Reparations,” published in The Atlantic, and to two new reparations bills in Congress. My research explores the debate on reparations — the arguments for and against, the types of proposals that have been made, and the persisting racial inequalities in wealth and housing that stem from slavery and Jim Crow Segregation — through both a written document and short documentary titled, Reparations: An American Dilemma, available to watch on YouTube.

Desi will be online to field comments on May 8:
2-4pm EDT (PST 11am-1pm, Africa/Europe: evening)

Posted in I.S. Symposium, Independent Study on May 1, 2020.