Dr. Imari A. Obadele, spokesperson for the reparations issue. Photo courtesy ENCOBRA

N'COBRA Movement and HR 40

H.R. 40 was introduced on January 6, 1999 by Rep. John Jr. Conyers (D-Mich.). The bill is "to acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the thirteen American colonies between 1619 and 1865, and to establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes."

Project documentation includes a copy of a October 29, 1999 letter to Rep. John Conyers from Randall Robinson, inviting Conyers to attend a TransAfrica Forum on January 11, 2000, to discuss the "Case for Black Reparations" due to slavery in the United States; a cassette tape of Conyers leading a session on reparations; a video of a panel of reparation advocates speaking on legal strategies for H.R. 40 and African American reparations; the Encobra magazine (summer 1999), the N'COBRA November 1999 newsletter, "Reparations, Now"; and various newspaper and journal articles, papers, and letters, regarding the reparations issue.

Originally submitted by: John Conyers, Jr., Representative (14th District).

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