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Alabama Congressman Benjamin S. Turner, who was born into slavery near Weldon in Halifax County, NC (where he has a historical marker) was one of the first Black members of Congress to advocate for reparations for the formerly enslaved. #nced #nchistory #reparations
In a May 31, 1872 speech on the floor of the U.S. House, he asked for a refund of the cotton tax, which was disproportionately hurting Blacks, & spoke of a bill he had introduced where the U.S. would purchase 160 acre or smaller tracts of private land to sell. #nced #reparations
Tuner asked the appropriation be made “in behalf of the landless and poor people of our country.” He added that the people he had the honor of representing were extremely poor, having been freed “after hundreds of years of disappointment and privation.” #nced #reparations
He further added that in conversations he had with other House members he was often told that the “Government should be just before it is generous,” then he stated, “we should look to our own interests before we care for those of our neighbors.” #nced #reparations
He spoke of how the government “gratuitously” subsidized the “Chinese, Japanese, and Indians,” but hesitated to lend its former slaves “$1 million annually to help aid themselves and at the same time greatly develop the resources of the country.” #nced #reparations
There is a children’s book about his life entitled “The Slave Who Went To Congress.” That’s for my elementary education colleagues who may want to teach about this extraordinary man. #nced #reparations https://www.amazon.com/Slave-Who-Went-Congress/dp/1588383563
Here is one of the book's co-authors, Marti Rosner, reading a couple of excerpts from the book. The other co-author is Frye Gaillard. #nced #reparations
Here is Turner's historical marker in Weldon (Halifax County, NC). #nced #reparations https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=31111
Turner's advocacy was 25 years before the founding of the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty & Pension Association by Callie House & Isaiah H. Dickerson, and 117 years before former Congressman John Conyers introduced the reparations study bill HR 40. #nced #reparations
