This year, California's government approved a plan to pay reparations to residents of the state who can show that they are descendants of those formerly enslaved. Seeking the evidence will be a process, genealogists say.

Adrienne Abiodun knows she is a descendant of a once enslaved man, named Phillip Branch.

She knows the name of his former enslaver, as well - John Whitaker. Ms Abiodun's fourth great-grandfather, Mr Branch, was born in North Carolina around 1795-1800 and then was brought to Mississippi.

Mr Branch's entire family was enslaved by the Whitaker family.

On Easter, we will celebrate the most important day of the year for the Christian community – the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Christians around the world believe Jesus Christ was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead. This act of selfless, sacrificial love for humanity is at the heart of Christianity. 

The Rev. Fred Robinson was about to start Sunday morning worship with his church staff when he heard a stunning public confession.

It came around the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in January of last year. His church had canceled in-person worship, but staffers had gathered inside the sanctuary to record a live online service.

During the holiest week of the year for Christians, churchgoers across the country are hearing the language associated with Jesus' suffering and death: atonement. This message mirrors one that we are now hearing from Congress around reparations for Black Americans because of the United States' egregious human rights violations against them, from slavery to lynchings to Jim Crow Laws.

John Oliver on Sunday night pushed for reparations for Black Americans.

“We’re not actually talking about reparations for slavery here. We should, but that is a different conversation,” he said. “We’re talking about housing discrimination.” 

Robert L. Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television and America’s first Black billionaire, wants a check. He wants it from the government. And he wants it to come with an apology for slavery, Jim Crow, and hundreds of years of racism.

The 75-year-old media magnate owns several homes, heads an asset management firm, and was the first Black person to own a majority stake in an NBA team. He doubts that check will ever come, but he sees a new kind of reparations—being called by a different name so as not be “divisive” or “controversial”—happening already. 

The White House declined to back a proposal for three survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and other descendants affected by the riots to receive reparations, a recommendation made by a state commission into the incident, the Washington Examiner reported on Tuesday.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Air Force One en route to Tulsa on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s focus was on raising awareness about the "tragic and devastating" massacre rather than seeking to compensate those affected.

A bill that will create a commission to study and make recommendations on how to best provide reparations to the descendants of enslaved people in the U.S. has taken a historic leap forward after being advanced by a House committee.

With a vote of 25 to 17, the bill, referred to as H.R. 40 passed in the House Judiciary Committee late Wednesday night. The bill still faces an uphill battle in becoming a law, but this milestone comes more than 30 years after it was first introduced.

The Illinois city of Evanston approved a reparations program Monday night for black Americans, making it the first city in America to carry out a program that seeks to redress past discriminatory practices.

The $10 million measure will be funded from annual cannabis taxes.

Passed by a vote of 8-1, the first phase of reparations makes $400,000 available in $25,000 homeownership and improvement grants, plus mortgage assistance, for black residents who can prove they’re direct descendants of Evanston residents between the period of 1919 and 1969.

An Illinois city has become the first in America to embark upon a reparations program for its Black residents after its local council approved the implementation of its first such initiative to tackle the legacy of slavery.

Late on Monday night aldermen in Evanston – a suburban community in Chicago – voted to approve the Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program, a $400,000 housing grant program.