Number: RS21098
Title: An Overview of H.R. 40 - the "Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act"
Authors: Christopher A. Jennings, American Law Division 
Abstract: H.R. 40 would establish a federal commission to study the capture, transport, sale, and treatment of slaves from the colonial period through the civil war, and to detail how the institution of slavery deprived its victims of family, freedom, culture, and property. The bill also tasks the commission to examine federal and state laws that perpetrated the institution of slavery and the de facto or de jure discrimination against African-Americans after slavery's abolishment. The bill also directs the commission to evaluate slavery's lingering effects on African-Americans today. A primary purpose of the commission is to determine whether remedies in consideration of the foregoing are warranted, and, if so, to recommend appropriate reparations. This report describes the commission's purpose and function, and examines its administrative powers and structure.
Pages: 2
Date: Updated January 2, 2002