Liberation Now Ep 17: Reparations and Reparatory Justice

In this episode, Helen Neville speaks with Dr. Mary Frances Berry and Dr. Sundiata Cha-Jua about their powerful new edited collection (with V.P. Franklin), Reparations and Reparatory Justice: Past, Present, and Future. Listen in to explore the global fight for reparations, uncover pivotal moments in the U.S. movement, and hear bold visions of what justice, liberation, and healing could truly look like for African Americans.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Mary Frances Berry is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania where she teaches American legal and African American history in the Department of History. In 1984, Berry co-founded the Free South Africa Movement. From 1993–2004, she chaired the US Commission of Civil Rights. She has served as the chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and interim provost for the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland (1976–1977). She is the author of numerous award-winning books, including Black Resistance/White Law: A History of Constitutional Racism in America (1971, expanded ed. 1994) and My Face Is Black Is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations (2005), and most recently Slavery After Slavery: Revealing the Legacy of Forced Child Apprenticeships on Black Families, from Emancipation to the Present(2025). She has received 37 honorary doctoral degrees and many awards, including the NAACP’s Roy Wilkins Award, the Rosa Parks Award of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Ebony Magazine Black Achievement Award.

Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua teaches in the departments of African American Studies and History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He authored America’s First Black Town, Brooklyn, Illinois, 1830–1915(2000), co-edited Race Struggles (University of Illinois Press, 2009) with Theodore Koditschek and Helen Neville. Cha-Jua has published scores of articles in leading Black/Africana Studies, History, and Left journals, including “The Long Movement’ as Vampire: Temporal and Spatial Fallacies in Recent Black Freedom Studies” in the Journal of African American History which co-won the OAH EBSCOhost America: History and Life Award for the best journal article in United States History between 2007-2009. Cha-Jua was President of the National Council for Black Studies, 2010–12, 2012–14; Senior Editor of The Black Scholar, 2011–15; and Associate Editor of the Journal of African American History, 2015–18. He is serving his third 3-year elected term on the Executive Council of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He writes a bi-weekly column, “RealTalk: A Black Perspective” for the Champaign News Gazette, hosts a bi-weekly podcast, “RealTalk: History as a Weapon for Black Liberation” on the Black Liberation Media network.

SELECTED WORKS BY THE GUESTS

Mary Frances Berry

• Berry, M. F. (1971). Black resistance/White law: A history of constitutional racism in America.
• Berry, M. F. (1984). Why ERA failed: Politics, women’s rights, and the amending process of the Constitution.
• Berry, M. F. (1993). The politics of parenthood: Child care, women’s rights, and the myth of the good mother.
• Berry, M. F. (1996). The pig farmer’s daughter and other tales of American justice: Episodes of racism and sexism in the courts from 1865 to the present.
• Berry, M. F. (2005). My face is black is true: Callie House and the struggle for ex‑slave reparations.
• Berry, M. F. (2009). And justice for all: The United States Commission on Civil Rights and the struggle for freedom in America.
• Berry, M. F. (2016). Five dollars and a pork chop sandwich: Vote buying and the corruption of democracy.
• Berry, M. F. (2018). History teaches us to resist: How progressive movements have succeeded in challenging times.
• Berry, M. F. (2025). Slavery after slavery: Revealing the legacy of forced child apprenticeships on Black families, from emancipation to the present.

Sundiata Cha-Jua

• Cha‑Jua, S. K. (2000). America’s First Black Town: Brooklyn, Illinois, 1830–1915.
• Koditschek, T., Cha‑Jua, S. K., & Neville, H. A. (Eds.). (2009). Race struggles.
• Cha‑Jua, S. K., Berry, M. F., & Franklin, V. P. (Eds.). (2024). Reparations and Reparatory justice: Past, present, and future.
• RealTalk: History as a Weapon for Black Liberation with Dr. Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua a biweekly podcast on YouTube and Black Liberation Media.

SELECTED REPARATIONS GROUPS

• N’COBRA (National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America)
• H.R. 40; Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act
• Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM)
• CARICOM Reparations Commission 
• National Reparations Network

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EPISODE CREDITS

Music: Amir Maghsoodi and Briana Williams

Podcast Artwork: B. Andi Lee & Amir Maghsoodi

Episode Intro/Outro: Helen Neville

Episode Editing: Helen Neville

Episode Transcript: bit.ly/LibNowE17