Repair: Redeeming the Promise of Abolition
About this book
Praise for Katherine Franke’s The Perils of Marriage Equality : “A persuasive and provocative addition to scholarship on the history and the influence of marriage.” ― Women’s Review of Books “Rigorous, historical.” ― Los Angeles Review of Books Katherine Franke makes a powerful case for reparations for Black Americans by amplifying the stories of former slaves and calling for repairing the damage caused by America’s legacy of slavery. Building on the case started by Ta’Nehisi Coates, Repair invites readers to explore the historical context for reparations, offering a detailed account of the circumstances that surrounded the emancipation of enslaved African Americans in two unique contexts, the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Davis Bend, Jefferson Davis’s former plantation outside Vicksburg, Mississippi. Through these two critical historical examples, Franke unpacks the systemic racism and white privilege at the heart of American society and argues that reparations for slavery are both urgent and possible. Katherine Franke , professor at Columbia Law School, is one of the nation’s leading scholars writing on law, racial justice, African American history, and sexuality. She is a board member of Jewish Voice for Peace and chair of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Her first book was The Perils of Marriage Equality .
