Black Religion and Reparations: Pragmatic Trajectories and Widening Support

This presentation will examine reparations advocacy by a vanguard of African American faith leader proponents, from Bishop Henry McNeil Turner’s late-19th century demands for federal payments toward emigrationism and Black Atlantic linkages, to 21st century Black clergy involvements in national level, local level, and sector-specific reparations policy activism. Attention will be paid to evolving theoretical and operational framings of this reparations advocacy and to variances in levels of American religious and political receptivity to reparations proposals. The conclusion drawn from available evidence here is that reparations advocacy by Black religious leaders has proven more pragmatic than purist, as concerns increasingly have shifted toward maximizing public support and prospects for reparations deliverables.