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Timeline
Broken Promise and Reconstruction
The most important fiscal turn is the promise of forty acres and its immediate rescission, followed by Black Codes and the abandonment of Reconstruction; the injury is a denied capital base, not only a broken phrase.
Read this page as one entry in a larger public accounting for Foundational Black American reparations and full cash repair. The purpose is to keep the record humane, measurable, and connected to the wider repair demand.
Record Broken Promise and Reconstruction
The most important fiscal turn is the promise of forty acres and its immediate rescission, followed by Black Codes and the abandonment of Reconstruction; the injury is a denied capital base, not only a broken phrase.
This entry is written for visitors who need both clarity and depth: the historical record, the present consequence, and the repair claim should remain visible together. Full cash repair is not treated here as a slogan; it is the financial center of a broader duty to close the harms carried through wealth, land, housing, education, health, safety, and inheritance.
Years: 1865-1877
Key points Why this page matters
- Special Field Order No. 15
- Rescission under Andrew Johnson
- Black Codes and abandoned Reconstruction
Context How this page fits the case
Timeline pages keep the chronology intact so the visitor can see how federal promises, discriminatory administration, and modern policy debates belong to one continuous account rather than a string of unrelated events.
Sources Supporting record families
- National Archives and Congressional Record
- Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances
- Mapping Inequality
- USDA Census of Agriculture
Uploaded report What the analysis report adds
| Category | Metric | Range | Primary source |
| Broken Promises | 40 Acres and a Mule (Special Field Order 15) | $160 Billion to $3.1 Trillion | Darity & Mullen / Craemer |
Slide room Where this page appears in the deck
Research commentary How the uploaded materials deepen this page
The workbook turns forty acres and a mule into a visible low-to-high valuation range, which is why this page can speak in terms of denied capital rather than only symbolic betrayal.
The deck frames Johnson’s reversal as the denial of self-sufficiency at the exact moment of national expansion.
Open the record Keep reading inside the source material
Continue through the ledger Continue reading
Why the connection matters From one record to the whole ledger
The Reparations Ledger is strongest when a visitor can move from one document, one scholar, or one measurable injury into the wider proof without losing the human weight of the subject. These connected pages are meant to make that movement orderly, believable, humane, and firmly connected to the demand for full cash repair.
