6 European Countries That Paid Millions in Reparations to Slave Owners When Enslaved Black People Were Freed

The enslaved people of General Thomas F. Drayton, 1862 © Henry P. Moore

United States

According to the National Archives and Records Administration, The District of Columbia Emancipation Act paved the way to compensate slave owners for their “loyalty to the Union” and for the loss of income incurred by freeing enslaved people.

On April 16, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia. Passage of this law came 8 1/2 months before Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation.

The act provided up to $300 (approximately $7,000 today) in compensation to former slave owners for each enslaved African freed; voluntary colonization of former slaves to locations outside the United States; and payments of up to $100 ( approximately $2,300 today ) for each person choosing emigration.

Over the following nine months, a board of commissioners approved 930 petitions, completely or in part, from former owners for the freedom of 2,989 to 3,100 formerly enslaved individuals.

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