The question of whether and how to compensate descendants of people formerly enslaved in the United States has hung over the country since the end of the Civil War. It’s getting new traction in the 2020 election. Duke Professor William "Sandy" Darity has created a Reparations Planning Committee to flesh out the details of how a reparations program would work.

This season of Ways & Means is supported by Polis: the Center for Politics at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.