background of Jim Crow laws - for RC JJ user

The Jim Crow laws, as they were known, prevented African
Americans from voting, and forced them to live, work, and go to school in areas
that kept them separated from white people. In an effort to counter such unfair
laws, new amendments were added to the Constitution to guarantee African
Americans full rights as citizens of the United States. In addition,
Congress created the Freedman’s Bureau, an organization that gave food,
clothing, and other assistance to former slaves. The Bureau also promised that
every freed man would receive 40 acres of land and a mule. That promise was
never fulfilled.

Today, some people say its time to pay reparations to the descendents of
slaves. Reparations are repayments to satisfy a bill or wrongdoing. In the
past, the U.S.
government has paid reparations to Native Americans for land that was taken
from them and to Japanese Americans who were unfairly imprisoned during World
War II. Reparations to slave descendents would be payment for the suffering of
their ancestors. And since much of the nation’s wealth was built on slave
labor, some people believe reparations are the rightful inheritance owed to
African Americans today.

Opponents say that a program of reparations could never be carried out
fairly. They say that it would be impossible all these years later to determine
who should receive reparations and who should pay for them. They also say that
people living in the 21st century should not be held responsible for what their
ancestors did in the 19th century.