Did John Hope Franklin Want $100 Trillion for Blacks?

Dr. John Hope Franklin, the wildly accomplished historian who documented Blacks' place in the great American story, firmly believed in reparations -- the idea that the descendants of slaves in the United States should be compensated for the centuries of free labor that enriched slaveowners and their descendants and the American empire. It is a fact overlooked by the recent flurry of mainstream media coverage commemorating his life work. (He died at the age of 94 late last month.) But it is no small detail.

Consider his response in 2007 to state legislators in North Carolina and Virginia who balked at apologies for slavery introduced by their peers. For him a mere verbal apology wasn't enough.

"People are running around apologizing for slavery," he said. "What about that awful period since slavery -- Reconstruction, Jim Crow and all the rest? And what about the enormous wealth that was built up by black labor? I think that's little to pay for the gazillions that black people built up -- the wealth of this country -- with their labor, and now you're going to say I'm sorry I beat the hell out of you for all these years? That's not enough."

When Dr. Franklin spoke of history, he did so with the definitive authority of an expert who spent over half a century culling through the details. His accomplishments are legendary: distinguished Duke University professor who taught at the University of Chicago and Harvard University (where he earned his doctorate in 1941); author of 20 books; first African American to chair a history dept at a predominately white university; over 3.5 million copies of his book From Slavery to Freedom have been printed since it's 1947 publication.

It is very easy now in our age of political correctness to courteously applaud the accomplishments of a barrier breaking African American in the field of U.S. History, which he said he wrote without "the embellishment of emotional display." But an entirely different pill to swallow is the conclusion he gleaned from his analysis: reparations are essential to acknowledging the country's wrongs.

"There are all kinds of ways you could do it," Franklin said in a video interview at Duke University, in which he insisted he wasn't asking for reparations personally -- even though he was entitled. "What about scholarships? What about descent places for people to live? Out of the fortunes that were made, you could build a mansion for the descendant of every former slave."

Others have argued that reparations should be paid directly by the U.S. government, which Harpers magazine (November 2000) estimated at $100 trillion dollars for 222,505,049 hours of forced labor between 1619 and 1865 with compounded interest of 6 percent. Still others have argued that payments should come from corporations who benefited as well as former colonial governments.

The idea of reparations for Blacks has for years been met in the American mainstream with at best contempt and at worst ridicule. But for John Hope Franklin the essential truth of American history was found not just in the large sweeping narrative, but also in the subtleties of the racial divide lived everyday.

His careers as a historian and as an activist (he was a researcher for Thurgood Marshall for the Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education case and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma) are well documented. Less known are his day-to-day confrontations with the legacy of white supremacy, subtleties he often related in personal anecdotes:

As a 6 year-old boy, his father's business in Tulsa was destroyed (luckily his father survived) during the infamous 1921 race riot. As one of the first Black boy scouts in 1927, he was severely reprimanded midway through helping a blind white woman cross the street upon her discovery he was black. In 1995, while in DC to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest award for a civilian, he hosted a party for friends at the Cosmos Club where he was a member and was asked by a white woman to get her coat, even though uniform attendants were present.

Personal insults like these only scratch the surface of the economic and psychological setbacks he suffered, like countless other African Americans, at the hands of white supremacy ingrained in American culture. Insults like these were a reminder of the big picture reasons why descendant of enslaved Africans lagged behind in the present. For Dr. Franklin, this was a direct result of American slavery.

"They ought to develop some kind of modus operandi that they can do something else -- something to absolve themselves of three centuries of guilt from which they are the direct beneficiaries," he said in a 2007 interview. "How large is the black population now living in abject poverty in this country? How large is the population of blacks who have poor health? Sometimes they inherited the poor health right from their forebears who were beaten and treated like they were animals all over this country."

It is true, as opponents of reparations argue, that America's troublesome history of racial inequity was born in the past. But it is equally apparent, as John Hope Franklin insisted, that our future is defined by the ways we address its legacy in the present.

If we really seek to commemorate him, it seems to me that the best we can do is to not just pay lip service to the man. Instead we should honor him by paying homage in the form of meaningful national policy that considers the conclusion of his life work.

Bakari Kitwana is visiting scholar at Columbia College's Center for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media and co-author of the forthcoming Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era (Third World Press, 2009). He also writes for NewsOne.com.

Comments

[lorla]

I thank everyone who participated in this discussion. Race is such a barrier for the middle class and poor in this country, that it keeps us from coming together for the push that is needed to the top for conditions to be better for most of this countries citizens.
It has always been so frustrating to me for to see us let skin color or ethnicity, stop us from learning and enjoying rich cultural practices exercised by a particular groups, and learning to appreciate or integrate it into our own lives. It is also frustrating to see some people throw away their cultural practices, to blend into mainstream society, and fail to be pass them onto the next generation. We all have something unique to contribute, and if we hold onto where we come from, and introduce it to others willing to take a look, we could truely see what Obama said that attracted many of us to him from the beginning: That we are much more alike than we are different.

[Bakari Kitwana - Huffpost Blogger]

One of the articles that inspired my editorial was this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/weekinreview/29applebome.html.

This is the article I'm referring to in the last comment post.

[Merretazon]

This national dialog must be firmly rooted in the historical context of the “trans-Atlantic slave trade” and the “holocaust” of African enslavement in the United States which is anchored in chattel enslavement, de facto and de jure racism, the destruction of life, culture, and human possibilities. These crimes against humanity were not that long ago as opponents of truth and justice would lead the voting public to believe. As a distinct people in America, Americanized Africans, with a pre-determined social, economic and political status, have been “free” for only 146 years (1863-2009). This also means that 102 years of our so-called freedom (1863-1965) were spent trying to repair ourselves and seeking recognition as humans.

The late, great Dr. John Hope Franklin, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, in recognition of his scholarship and service, told the nation when President Clinton appointed him in 1997 to chair a seven-member panel for the president's Initiative on Race:

“If the house is to be set in order, one cannot begin with the present. He must begin with the past.”

Therefore, true national dialogue on a reparations accord for Blacks in America is appropriate within this founding context of America. Reparations are the cross-road solution to these historical injustices and the current undeveloped human capital of America.

[CellarDoor]

I once had an idea but I'm not an economist so I have no notion of it's veracity. If it's not sufficient or too much...

The idea is simple: all descendants of North American slaves never have to pay any taxes. Ever. No income, sales, state, city, property, etc. No taxes whatsoever on an individual basis. And while we're at it, neither do all the descendants of American Indians. The amount of people that would actually qualify would very likely not make even the tiniest dent in the overall taxation of the nation.

Am I way off base on that?

There is an issue about how closely related an individual is and what about mixed heritages, etc but perhaps an algorithmic scale can be applied in some form. If you come from a line of slaves then you pay no tax of any kind but if you are very distantly related to one slave then perhaps you just don't pay sales tax.

This idea can affect people in the lineage of former slaves and American Indians of all financial walks of life from homeowners to the homeless.

Is this idea 'pie in the sky' silliness? Is it reasonable? Enough?

[Flavor]

First you have not seen one comment on not paying taxes, that's crazy thinking. Every home owner is required and should pay taxes, lets get real hear. American Indians, were here first and they were doing well. They were living without diseases ect.... they were stripped of what was rightfully theirs in all reality if each heritage went back to their native land the only humans that would remain on this great soil is the great American Indian. Growing up all I saw on TV was Cowboys killing Indians as if the Indian was the enemy after taking American history and history on our beautiful native Americans I found some lies also I had to take Black history to find out just how much the black Americans contribute and you know what else so did the Chinese we had people of color fighting in our wars with no recognition. Once again reparations doesn't mean money all the time. Admittance.

[Flavor]

Let me state this, would it be fair for anyone to come on your property take camp, and then take over and then walk in and out your house, take a bath whenever they please, cook up all your food and then use your car until all the gas was gone and bring it back with several dents in it and hand you the keys and then repeated this routine daily, now would you feel violated, sure you would this is what exactly happened to the American Indian. No one just decides we have to give these people money every month while their on their land without first knowing injustice has taken place. We live in a great country but what makes one greater is when he or she can admit wrong doing. Violations are horrible when you strip a person from being able to think they have nothing. Reparations don't just have to come in money form. Admittance.

[RobertRoberg]

Ezekiel 18:20 "
The son shall not suffer for the sins of the father".

To try to fine a son for the sins of his father is to go against the word of God.

It seems pretty clear that when your enemy dies , he takes his debts to the grave, you are not to go to his son for revenge or reparation.

[GrainOSand]

He may take his debts with him in the narrow confines of the legal constructs people create to obfuscate (white man speak with fork tongue)...but his misery, his seed of destructio­n...contin­ues....it just goes on and on, like a rolling stone.

[GrainOSand]

V
40+ does not equate to 400+. The brutality of the institution of hate in America as history and as present day fact continues to plague America. Reparations as a societal call is subject to vicious rebuttal based on denial, delusion, and deliberate attempts to change the subject. That is why my first comment basically questioned, “Why bother?” I knew the futility of the subject matter before I ever typed a character in comment. Money will not solve the problem. Money will not heal the collective broken and therefore distrustful heart. It will not soothe the paranoid brain that has grown in an environment of pressure brought on by various barrages of racial attack (covert and overt). It will not make the irresponsible responsible. No, a payday for all descendants of the victims of bondage, rape, murder, theft, and human desecration based on race, will not serve as a magic ointment. If done right, it will address very valid quality of life issues. It would provide stable homes and educational opportunities that did not exist before such a payout. It would foster a higher degree of social responsibility and inclusion amongst a group that has long felt alienation within this society (Michelle Obama’s “First time” comment). Reparations could help in healing and strengthening a nation, but selfishness will never allow for such an approach, along with amnesia, fear, and stereotypical thinking, you know the kind that thinks people are actually waiting around for government assistance.

[GrainOSand]

IV
I have seen the enemy and it is hate. Hate clogs the plumbing of progress, hate is the disloyal, distrustful, disdainful opposition. Witness the rise of the radical fringe Right in response to the election of a brown man. Tell me this is not an indication of “the sickness still amongst us”. It is not confined to just the hills of Kentucky either. This hatred lives at every level of America life. Things have changed and are changing. Progress can be and should be marked. Denial of fact remains an unsustainable path.

When I speak of white I mean a way of thinking versus a color. When I speak of a “white man” speaking with forked tongue, I indict a system of hate, of lies, of legal trickery, hypocrisy and corruption, and of tyranny, not a fellow human being who may project a lighter hue of brown as a surface attribute.

[GrainOSand]

III
This is not an abandoning of principle, but a pointing out of hypocrisy, concerning 1.) the legal doublespeak used throughout American history to change the subject, to legally slither, to dupe the individual citizen or group of citizen, and to further delude and coddle the sick minded that they are well, righteous, and correct in their faulty hypocritical stances; 2.)the culture that feeds upon itself and that crumbles like a house of cards under close scrutiny or reflection. John Wayne was sold to America as the prototypical male in a nation with millions who could not or would not identify.

“The Lone Ranger said, Tanto, our lives are in danger, we have to get away if we can. Tanto said, what do you mean “we” white man.”

Entire generations were brought up on myths propped up through culture and other methods of media spin and dissemination of a “white male” superiority agenda. Now some in these times take or find offense when one seeks to turn the mirror of that fed back onto the culture that served it up, to show and highlight the hypocrisy? Tsk, tsk, how feeble humans are in their endless ability to self-delude and to serve up papier-mâché logic that burns in the fire of critical inspection How comfortable some are in their La-Z-Boy of convenient amnesia, delusion, and denial.

[GrainOSand]

II
Here are my principles on race:

• In combating hate it is unacceptable to become the very hate you are battling. If racism is wrong it therefore cannot be used as a weapon to combat racism. One would think that this is basic, but in practice, we see many cases of the embrace of the enemies’ tactics to combat the enemy. In war scenarios this may seem acceptable, even necessary, but principles should never succumb to the ravages of war. Is that not one critique of Bush...that he abandoned American principle under the cover of protecting America?

• There is no color where it concerns the character, worth, value, and promise of a given individual, all are worthy of love and respect.

• Hatred based on race is wrong and does not serve a purpose that I see as healthy, inspiring, or towards healing, helping, and harmony.

• Sometimes a wayward child, sister or brother, requires a jolt to their senses to wake them up from madness. In such cases a peaceful warrior may fire a salvo such as:

“He may take his debts with him in the narrow confines of the legal constructs people create to obfuscate (white man speak with fork tongue)”

[GrainOSand]

There was follow-up discourse on this comment, as someone responded (in the negative of course) to that aspect of the statement that seemed to make a general proclamation -- “White man speak with fork tongue”. I responded to that comment, and then, shortly thereafter, the follow-up dialogue disappeared. I still seek to provide context based on the deleted response to the above comment.

I can understand how one who does not know me might read that statement and conclude, this person thinks that people with “white” skin, lie every time they part their lips to utter anything. This is but one of the problems with communication in this way. A reference of a popular culture quote can become ones’ own point of view (by perception of the reader). It is as it always is, history is embraced when it glorifies and disavowed when it indicts. In this case it is the history of popular culture that many would love to denounce concerning the seemingly offensive phrase. They would deny me such a reference that emanates from an otherwise reverential component of American history -- the Old West.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/9/messages/454.html

As you can see this phrase comes out of American manufactured culture. I merely used it to make a point and not to represent my principles.

[IGNSTHMD]

Loading up the nation with debt and leaving it for the following generations to pay is morally irresponsible. Excessive debt is a means by which governments oppress the people and waste their substance. No nation has a right to contract debt for periods longer than the majority contracting it can expect to live.

afflict a man and leave his children with the bill then?

[IGNSTHMD]

Exodus 22

if a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.

God is practical, you sir, are not

[stell]

The reaction that you see comes from the fear of being supplanted if a just system were to be implemented.

[i5kfun]

What are you talking about? How would it be a just system?

What you see is reaction to an unjust system of transfers of wealth from people who had nothing to do with owning slaves to people who had nothing to do being slaves.

[IGNSTHMD]

What wrong is black people can't assume their expectations of what they deserve will be an automatic contingency of them putting effort to that goal. If you really care about making right by black people then give the children what they need to be all they can be:

“The children will hardly accept the rules of civilization so long as they know that there are no places for them in it, that they must therefore live outside the culture of the city not only as its victims but, actively or passively, as its antagonists…. Obviously it will take more than a few Black elementary school principals to offset the despair which now encloses these (ghetto) children. It will take something as powerful as the knowledge that they will one day come of age and inherit the society in their own right, a recognition which most White children have never lacked, yet which may, at last, turn out to have been a delusion unless their Black neighbors come to share it with them.”

[stell]

I firmly believe that the ills of the past haunt this nation. You reap what you sow.

[GrainOSand]

A storm gathers...

[stell]

The $100 trillion breaks down to a little over $300 dollars per person in the U.S. Whites definitely benefited many times over 300 bucks, and those that are NOT black benefited and are able to trade on that fact as well.

[jordan3189]

Time to put down the crack pipe and head back to math class. The correct figure is $333,333.00 per person. Reparations are such a joke, hey, wait I think my great,great grandfather was screwed over back in sweden, where's my money.

[GrainOSand]

Correct math wrong content of heart. Ridicule is easy, what else you got?

[i5kfun]

If you say that the bill should only be footed by the white population then it climbs to $504,795 per PERSON.

[IGNSTHMD]

yeah that's funny especially since our ansestors created such and absured amount of backpay that that we can brush off black people's sufferage just on the association of the absurd dollar amount. I mean what do they (or can they) expect from us...were only swedish Americans

[Satan-On-A-Stick]

"hey, wait I think my great,great grandfather was screwed over back in sweden, where's my money."

You should address this question to the Swedish Government.

[stell]

Black people can NEVER be repaid, for what was robbed from them, the humanity that they were denied and it's psychological impact, and the wealth that they didn't get to bequeath to future generations.

[GrainOSand]

The toll cannot be tallied.

[stell]

ASSETS TRANSFER. END OF STORY.

[stell]

Assets transfer. The truth is they can't afford it. The so-called richest nation is actually the poorest nation, And the so-called poorest nations are the richest in terms of the wealth of the nation which is measured by it's people, it's land, resources and knowledge and heritage. Talk of reparations puts up a mirror to the country, and the country doesn't like it very much. Admitting to the correctness of reparations is thought to be a slippery slope, doing so would lead to admitting that they were wrong about other things. The ego and power will not allow that to happen.

[Sorti]

Please send me a bil for my part, I'll make sure and send you a check on Tuesday!

America it’s not too late to repatriate!

[paulita]

ttp://www.collectif2015.org/appeleng.html

Reparations were voted upon for the Armenian genocide. Didnt last for hundreds of years like slavery not to mention build a world super power. Thoee paying did not commit the crime directly, which is rarely if ever the case.

Its only a joke as applied ot African decendants apparently.

[Sensima]

Comments like this further the point of education reform.

[Spearworld]

Just generally touching on all of the arguments put forth in the blog. As long as you live in this country, you are benefiting from slavery. So, I don't believe that you can use the argument that your ancestors had nothing to do with slavery or that you are a more recent arrival to deny African Americans their rights to reparations. Reparations do not have to take monetary form but in working on issues such as poverty, crime and real equal access to many institutions in this country. As to the argument, that Africans sold their own into slavery its just a ploy to shift blame. Every other group in this country has been given some form of reparations and it is time to do what's right.
Affirmative Action benefited white women more than it did African Americans. They were the first to break many of the proverbial glass ceilings.

[i5kfun]

Do African Americans not live in this country?

[IGNSTHMD]

stop slighting the truth

[indyleftist]

"Others have argued that reparations should be paid directly by the U.S. government, which Harpers magazine (November 2000) estimated at $100 trillion dollars..."

Well then the answer to your question is no.
John Hope Franklin did not favor $100 trillion dollars in reparations for african americans; "Others" did.

[Readbetweentheelevens]

And how would you answer thers questions:

"And what about the enormous wealth that was built up by black labor?"

"What about scholarships? What about descent places for people to live? Out of the fortunes that were made, you could build a mansion for the descendant of every former slave."

"How large is the black population now living in abject poverty in this country? How large is the population of blacks who have poor health?

You missed all those concerns raised by the author.

[indyleftist]

I didn't miss the part were he said he wanted $100 trillion paid from the US government to african americans; because its not in there
Probably because its just silly

[Tanyars5]

I don't think we will ever get $'s for reparations. However, I do feel that Black people are entitled to land. Land was stolen from us and nothing was ever done to right that wrong. We deserve our 40 acres.
We should also be provided a free college education for all who want it. Higher education would be a lifelong entitlement.
Black people should also be provided the same health care provided to the congress.
Land, Education, and Healthcare.

[Bakari Kitwana - Huffpost Blogger]

Most of the comments here make my point: most folks engage this argument from whatever racial political analysis they consider to be "correct," not from a look at the historical record. Dr. Franklin's analysis on this question was from the standpoint of his historical research. Randall Robinson's book The Debt also looks at the historical precedent for paying reparations. I think if this discussion is going to take us anywhere, folks who enter the debate need to do some research.

For me the piece is about paying respect to Dr. Franklin, not just lip service. And If we as a nation that wants to pay homage to the memory of a great historian we could begin by actually reading his seminal work From Slavery to Freedom. It's an excellent starting point. There is also the Harper's November 2000 article that I mention in the editorial. It was Harper's that came up with the math of $100 Trillion-not Dr. Franklin. Others comments have mentioned relevant research on corporations that benefited, which is also documented in the Harper's piece.

[BubbaC33]

I believe any living former-slave should get something from the US government. But should then get to pay something to the families of the dead Union soldiers.

[Readbetweentheelevens]

You raise a good point; however, many historians to this date claim that the civil war was not fought over slavery. You can't have it both ways. It's funny how the cause of the war is always changing depending on what's to gain. I'm wondering if you favor charging historians who claim the war was not about slavery for defamation of all the war dead on the Union side?

[i5kfun]

I think it is the title of this article that is off-putting. Did you select the title for the article, or was it someone at Huffington? The title of the article should convey your thesis, it should not be a bombastic statement to draw readers in. If this piece is truly about paying respect to Dr. Franklin why not make the title about Dr. Franklin???

[IGNSTHMD]

I disagree

[Sensima]

Thank you Bakari for this striking piece that presents a well thought out view of this debate.

Most white Americans (as well as black) are shamelessly ignorant of this country and its roots in slavery. Our children are taught the most vicious lies in school starting with "Lincoln freed the slaves". The reconstruction period was a psychological assault on whites as well as blacks. This is well documented and explain in "From Slavery to Freedom" and also in books by Lerone Bennett jr. Whites were punished if they tried to help "freed" slaves and the same freed slaves were killed and terrorized for trying to help themselves. Inequality was built into the system which trickles down to the people. Rather than reparations be paid I would like to see the system of systematic racism up heaved and thrown out completely. Let's stop teaching our children these frivolousness about the Civil War and start teaching the truth. These children sit in class and hear nothing of the accomplishments of black men and women other than 1 month out the year and we sit and can't understand the why depression reins so high in black communities. Let's start telling the truth. I applaud this article and look forward to reading all sides of this debate.

[Tanyars5]

I agree

[IGNSTHMD]

can you lobby publishers?

and if not

how is curricula developed from the teachers vantage, how do they contribute to the marterials they champion for.