Overview

• Descendants of slaves who built St. Louis University are demanding reparations, estimating the owed amount to be up to $74 billion for unpaid labor.
• Civil rights attorney Areva Martin is representing the descendants, arguing that cash payments are a way to recognize the harm done by slavery.
• St. Louis University acknowledges its historical ties to slavery and expresses regret for the slow progress in reconciling with this past.
• The university is involved in the Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project, but descendants argue that mere acknowledgment is not enough.
• Other institutions, such as Georgetown University, have begun making reparations to descendants of enslaved people they exploited.