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Getting to Reparations: How Building a Different America Requires a Reckoning with Our Past
A bold manifesto arguing that there is a clear precedent for paying reparations to atone for America’s original sin of slavery, offering a compelling legal strategy to achieve this goal—from the acclaimed author of
The Whiteness of Wealth.
The idea of reparations is not a new or original one; it is one that is baked into American history.
When the District of Columbia Emancipation Act of 1862 went into effect, wealthy slaveowners like Margaret Barber were compensated for the loss of their enslaved workers. Barber received $9,000—an equivalent to $250,000 today. When a group of Italian immigrants were lynched in 1892, President Harrison compensated Italy a total of $25,000 for their deaths—an equivalent to almost $766,000 today. The Indian Claims Commission, an arm of the federal government, paid Indigenous Americans $818 million for underhandedly stealing their land in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—an equivalent to almost $350 billion today.
Dorothy A. Brown addresses the glaring if reparations can be achieved for others, why not for Black Americans? If lynching can be remedied for Italian immigrants, and slaveholders compensated for losses associated with abolition and emancipation, then the government’s failure to provide such remedies to Black communities harmed by similar violence, loss, and destruction is long overdue. The fight for reparations is truly a fight for the soul of America, to produce the country our founding fathers idealized but never achieved.
Getting to Reparations makes a logical and necessary case for reparations for Black Americans. It lays out a path as to how we might achieve this, built on the frameworks used throughout U.S. history by the government to pay restitution. It is now time to do the same for America's Black population.
The idea of reparations is not a new or original one; it is one that is baked into American history.
When the District of Columbia Emancipation Act of 1862 went into effect, wealthy slaveowners like Margaret Barber were compensated for the loss of their enslaved workers. Barber received $9,000—an equivalent to $250,000 today. When a group of Italian immigrants were lynched in 1892, President Harrison compensated Italy a total of $25,000 for their deaths—an equivalent to almost $766,000 today. The Indian Claims Commission, an arm of the federal government, paid Indigenous Americans $818 million for underhandedly stealing their land in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries—an equivalent to almost $350 billion today.
Dorothy A. Brown addresses the glaring if reparations can be achieved for others, why not for Black Americans? If lynching can be remedied for Italian immigrants, and slaveholders compensated for losses associated with abolition and emancipation, then the government’s failure to provide such remedies to Black communities harmed by similar violence, loss, and destruction is long overdue. The fight for reparations is truly a fight for the soul of America, to produce the country our founding fathers idealized but never achieved.
Getting to Reparations makes a logical and necessary case for reparations for Black Americans. It lays out a path as to how we might achieve this, built on the frameworks used throughout U.S. history by the government to pay restitution. It is now time to do the same for America's Black population.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 20, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 7, 2025
Getting to Reparations is a timely, powerful, and intellectually substantial work. It paints a compelling case that the idea of reparations, far from being radical or fringe, is woven into American legal and social history. Brown offers both moral clarity and workable suggestions, making this book especially valuable for anyone interested in justice, public policy, racial equity, or reparations.
September 28, 2025
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This builds a compelling legal and moral case for Black reparations by examining the extensive precedent of American compensatory payments throughout history. Brown's genius lies in her methodical documentation of how the U.S. government has consistently provided reparations to various groups throughout American history. Well, except for Black Americans.
Her examples are both powerful and damning: slaveowners compensated for losing their "property" during emancipation, Italian immigrants' families receiving compensation for lynching victims, and Indigenous Americans awarded millions through the Indian Claims Commission. These precedents demolish the argument that reparations are unprecedented or impossible.
The author's legal background shines through in her systematic approach to building the case. Her analysis of how previous compensatory programs were designed, funded, and implemented offers a practical roadmap that moves beyond theoretical discussions to actionable policy.
The book's strength lies in its logical progression and overwhelming evidence. Brown methodically builds her case, showing how each historical example strengthens the argument for Black reparations. Her framing of reparations as "a fight for the soul of America" elevates the discussion beyond policy details to fundamental questions about justice and national identity.
This builds a compelling legal and moral case for Black reparations by examining the extensive precedent of American compensatory payments throughout history. Brown's genius lies in her methodical documentation of how the U.S. government has consistently provided reparations to various groups throughout American history. Well, except for Black Americans.
Her examples are both powerful and damning: slaveowners compensated for losing their "property" during emancipation, Italian immigrants' families receiving compensation for lynching victims, and Indigenous Americans awarded millions through the Indian Claims Commission. These precedents demolish the argument that reparations are unprecedented or impossible.
The author's legal background shines through in her systematic approach to building the case. Her analysis of how previous compensatory programs were designed, funded, and implemented offers a practical roadmap that moves beyond theoretical discussions to actionable policy.
The book's strength lies in its logical progression and overwhelming evidence. Brown methodically builds her case, showing how each historical example strengthens the argument for Black reparations. Her framing of reparations as "a fight for the soul of America" elevates the discussion beyond policy details to fundamental questions about justice and national identity.
January 17, 2026
A bold and important message that needs to be heard at a time when our political leadership is trying to suppress anything that might make a white person “feel bad.” Part of this country’s difficulty with achieving racial equity and justice has been the fact that there’s never truly been any kind of reckoning for creating and sustaining a slave-based society that benefited whites and gravely disadvantaged blacks for hundreds of years.
Brown, in a very matter-of-fact way, lays out the history, effects and remedies for this. This book is not armchair reading: I see this book as more of a resource book for present and future leaders and activists who want to make reparations happen. The writing is rather dry but well-organized and full of resources and information and legal arguments to support the process, although she does make space as well on ways to articulate and frame the need for reparations to the larger (i.e., white, resistant) public so as to understand the legitimate need for it.
A good companion book to this one is “The Sum of Us,” by Heather McGhee, in which the author, an economist, lays out how harms to black Americans actually cause harms to all Americans.
I received a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway my thanks to the publisher and Goodreads.
Brown, in a very matter-of-fact way, lays out the history, effects and remedies for this. This book is not armchair reading: I see this book as more of a resource book for present and future leaders and activists who want to make reparations happen. The writing is rather dry but well-organized and full of resources and information and legal arguments to support the process, although she does make space as well on ways to articulate and frame the need for reparations to the larger (i.e., white, resistant) public so as to understand the legitimate need for it.
A good companion book to this one is “The Sum of Us,” by Heather McGhee, in which the author, an economist, lays out how harms to black Americans actually cause harms to all Americans.
I received a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway my thanks to the publisher and Goodreads.
January 20, 2026
Here's a book that's definitely long overdue...and the people in government should read this especially!
It's long overdue...this 'reparation' stuff for the Black community...since it's already been proven that it's feasible to do this...since we've already done this many times in the past...
Dorothy A. Brown has done an excellent job researching and writing this story...and it needs to be out there so action can be started...why this hasn't been done is anybodies guess...probably just politics...same ol' same ol'...
Highly Recommended!
September 14, 2025
An ambitious yet clear-eyed argument for reparations, including a well-constructed plan for how we get there. This is a book that will absolutely change hearts and minds.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Getting to Reparations is a timely primer for anyone to learn more about reparations. I really enjoyed Dorothy Brown's frankness and I found the section about the four day focus group, that became the bones of Getting to Reparations, very interesting. I definitely recommend picking up Getting to Reparations and her other book, The Whiteness of Wealth.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews