Lawmakers in Washington are scheduled to address reparations for slavery for the first time in more than 10 years on Wednesday. A House Judiciary subcommittee plans to discuss a bill to create a commission that would make recommendations concerning “any form of apology and compensation” to descendants of enslaved African-Americans.
There is no direct template for reparations of that kind, but Americans have received compensation for historical injustices before. Examples include Japanese-Americans interned during World War II; survivors of police abuses in Chicago; victims of forced sterilization; and black residents of a Florida town that was burned by a murderous white mob.
Here is a look at what happened in those cases, and some of the lessons that can be drawn from them.
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