SLAVE REPARATIONS: The Final Passage

Directed by John Eisler
2003, color, 30 mins.

New and Revised Edition

Though the kidnapping and enslavement of Africans ended over a century and a half ago, the effects of the American slave system are very much with us today. The segregation and racism that resulted from slavery has left America with the uneven distribution of wealth, education, power, privilege, and prestige. 

This documentary examines the current controversy over the issue of slave reparations, addressing the most often voiced objections ("It's long over," "I had nothing to do with it," "Affirmative Action is enough," etc.) to the claim for financial restitution to the ancestors of slaves for the wealth created by black labor in previous centuries. Among those discussing this timely issue are Dr. Alvin Poussaint, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; Professor Manning Marable, historian and professor of African American Studies at Columbia University; Reverend Herbert Daughtry, Minister of the House of the Lord Churches; Richard E. Barber, a lifelong civil rights activist who instituted the groundbreaking class-action lawsuit seeking reparations from corporations that profited from slave labor; and Donna Lamb of Caucasians United for Reparations and Emancipation. The documentary is divided into two parts for classroom use. 

Subjects & Collections

Reviews

* Official Selection, African Diaspora Film Festival, 2006

"...the video presents the case for slave reparations with intelligence and clarity. It offers students the opportunity to hear why proponents feel that slave reparations are vital for our country." - School Library Journal