A bill to study reparations for slavery had momentum in Congress, but still no vote

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November 12th, 2021

The chained hand of Archer Alexander, who was the last slave captured under the fugitive slave law, is depicted in a statue commemorating the Emancipation Proclamation. A bill to study reparations for slavery advanced through a House committee this year but hasn’t gotten a floor vote.

Karen Bleier / AFP via Getty Images

Seven months ago, a House committee advanced a bill to study reparations for slavery, after more than three decades of efforts to build support for the idea.

But the bill has not been taken up for consideration by the full House of Representatives even though it has the backing of some of the country’s most prominent Democrats.

“Since April there has been very little movement on the bill by the leadership in Congress,” said Kamm Howard, a national co-chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America.

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