0:09

Hey everyone, it's Tremaine Lee, MSNBC

0:11

correspondent and host of the podcast,

0:13

Into America. This Black

0:15

History Month, Into America is presenting

0:17

a special series, Uncounted

0:19

Millions, The Power of Reparations.

0:22

I'm exploring the untold story

0:24

of Gabriel Coakley, one of

0:26

the only Black Americans ever

0:28

compensated for slavery. This

0:31

is a story that's had my mind racing for

0:33

months, wondering how this man did

0:35

this, how it shaped his family, and

0:38

what the implications might be for our

0:40

current debate on reparations. Our

0:42

story begins in the thick of

0:44

the Civil War, in an America

0:46

torn between holding to its traditions

0:48

of slavery and moving closer to

0:50

its messy ideals of freedom, a

0:53

moment when reparations were just as central

0:55

in the policy debate as they are

0:57

now. Stay right here

0:59

and listen to a special preview of

1:02

the first episode of Uncounted Millions and

1:04

search for Into America wherever you're listening

1:06

now and follow. I

1:11

had this conversation with my husband and I was

1:13

like, yeah, I'm going to be talking about compensated

1:15

emancipation. And he's like, oh, and

1:17

slave people got money? They got

1:20

compensated? And I was like, no,

1:22

slaveholders got compensated. It's

1:25

one of those jaw-dropping chapters in

1:27

history, often left out

1:29

of our high school or college

1:31

history books and rarely brought up

1:33

in the contemporary conversation around reparations

1:35

in America. Enslaved

1:37

people were capital. They were like stocks.

1:41

If you were low on cash,

1:43

you sold an enslaved person. They

1:46

had a precedent for this because

1:48

when the UK, when Great Britain

1:50

frees or emancipates its enslaved population,

1:54

they compensated slaveholders 20 million

1:57

pounds. By.

2:00

Eighteen Sixty Two, America was ready

2:02

to do the same. Thanks to

2:04

the Dc Episodes Emancipation act. Congress

2:06

allocated million dollars centered the means

2:08

and did today's money to compensate

2:10

up to three hundred dollars per

2:12

slaves. Ah, and so the slave

2:14

owners would would go to the

2:16

commission. And file a claim

2:18

for compensation To sounds a lot

2:20

like reparations to me is this

2:23

It is reparations reparations. It is

2:25

reparations. Absolutely reparations for for slave

2:27

owners, for the for the people

2:29

who owned ah enslaved people. With

2:31

this it was the says just.

2:33

Play as Outlandish does. Now here in

2:35

that sounds crazy to me. I'm sure

2:38

that was listening, but like. with

2:40

a crazy didn't is it does sound

2:42

take a sense it. To. People

2:44

like Charles Sumner that he is Stevens

2:46

and Ends of the radical Republicans. Yes,

2:48

it was, but they were always a

2:51

small minority either within the Republican party

2:53

and so more moderate leaders Abraham Lincoln

2:55

among them. They very much believed in

2:57

compensation. They thought this was that this

3:00

would ease the transition, that that it

3:02

would help slave owners resign themselves to

3:04

the fact that emancipation was going to

3:06

happen. Nearly

3:08

one thousand white in flavors were

3:11

compensated for the money's the Congress

3:13

had allocated of report in the

3:15

Washington Post estimated that the p

3:18

I would translate to more than

3:20

twenty nine million dollars. Today there

3:22

was no money allocated for the

3:25

enslaved themselves accepts. The. One

3:27

thousand dollar fund for colonization. So

3:29

she wanted to leave the country.

3:32

Congress has pitched. Cel.

3:35

Can you imagine that? You'll get

3:37

money? but you can stay here.

3:39

You'll give money. But have you

3:41

considered going to Liberia? Or the

3:43

Uk or Canada. Out we

3:45

don't know what. To do with black people as

3:48

they stay here. President. Lincoln

3:50

was one of compositions loud

3:52

his supporters, but the vast

3:54

majority of African Americans free

3:56

African Americans said. No.

3:59

This is our. Country, we deserve our

4:01

freedoms right here where we

4:03

were born. So they resist

4:06

the colonization movement pretty strongly.

4:08

And. It's see like you know black abolitionists

4:11

delights. Hundred douglas were like know we

4:13

built this country this their home so.

4:15

And how about we were funny? quality. As.

4:18

Douglas himself says. Varies.

4:21

But one best to me it seems

4:23

to me left for us. And

4:25

that is to make ourselves. And. Be

4:27

made by others a part of

4:30

the American people in every sense

4:32

of the word. Will.

4:34

Me since about the since

4:36

the call and emotional when

4:38

citizens that sama have been

4:40

enslaved and now been. Served

4:42

since freeze. There's a real

4:44

wacky mean with. What

4:46

Do I do? With. This:

4:49

You're still in. This

4:51

was I position legally.

4:54

Of Science. Design your own

4:57

personhood when you are no

4:59

longer enslaved. But. She

5:01

were still not yet American, and

5:04

I think that's the south of

5:06

the all black people deal with

5:08

up into this present day know

5:11

we're no longer slaves, but what

5:13

does that mean? For.

5:15

People like Gabriel Coakley, he meant

5:18

taking every opportunity available to snatch

5:20

with security and just as

5:22

he could for his family's even

5:25

if he wasn't meant for him.

5:27

When the Dc Emancipation Acts pass

5:29

and word comes out that that

5:32

folks can get compensated for

5:34

for their quota for property law,

5:36

Gabriel Coakley and and others think.

5:40

I could do this. Maybe.

5:44

Represents. Are always something

5:46

given. Was. Something. That's.

5:48

Taken. Thanks

5:52

for listening to the special preview find out

5:54

more about how General Called me Set out

5:57

to take everything Oh to him and

5:59

his family. And listening to the

6:01

full series there's for into America for.

6:03

Every now and all. The shows.

6:13

Sergeant and Mrs. Smith, you're going to love

6:15

this house. Is that a tub

6:17

in the kitchen. There's no field

6:19

manual for finding the right home. but when

6:21

you do, USAA homeowners insurance can help

6:23

protect it the right way. restrictions

6:26

apply.