Terrorized African-Americans Found Their Champion in Civil War Hero Robert Smalls (April 5, 1839)

The Blackman Who Reads Aloud
Presents: Robert Smalls
Speaking Black Truth To White Supremacy
Speech (1895)

A Word of Warning: A Former Slave Urges Constitutional Caution
"Since reconstruction times 53,000 negroes have been killed in the south, and not more than three white men have been convicted and hung for these crimes. I want you to be mindful of the fact that the good people of the north are watching this convention upon this subject. I hope you will make a Constitution that will stand the test. I hope that we may be able to say when our work is done that we have made as good a Constitution as the one we are doing away with."


"Smithsonian Magazine Article (2018)"
Fifty-three thousand dead is a staggering number—more than all the dead, wounded and missing at the Battle of Gettysburg. Even spread over the 30 years that had elapsed since Appomattox, that would be an average of 1,766 murders each year, or almost five each day, across the 11 former Confederate states.

So when you are in a discussion about black reparations understand that black oppression didn't conclude at the end of the Civil War and the elimination of the institution of slavery. Black physical, education and economic oppression extended far into the twentieth century. I mean 53,000 murders by white supremists beware the ides of March, really, beware the ides of whiteness.