Reparations

As progress is being made in Champaign County, Illinois to enact reparations to address the previous and ongoing harm caused by slavery and systemic racism, it’s important that we understand the history of Black struggle in the US.

This four-part video series provides a brief overview of US history from the Civil War through the Civil Rights era, and shows how the super exploitation of Black labor continues into the present day. This series also highlights that when working people are organized and engaged in well-coordinated struggle, there is nothing they cannot achieve.

Part 1: Slavery & Reconstruction

The video below provides a brief history of the ending of chattel slavery in the US and how that was only achieved through a general strike of enslaved African Americans.

Part 2: Civil Rights Revolution

In the next video in the series, we take a look at the Civil Rights movement and how legal apartheid was ended in the US through grassroots organizing.