White Americans opposed to paying reparations to descendants of slaves may not know that white slaveowners received reparations after their slaves were freed. President Abraham Lincoln paid white Union loyalists up to $300 for every enslaved person freed, Prof. Tera Hunter wrote. The reparations were made through the District of Columbia Emancipation Act.
The largest individual payout was $18,000 for 69 slaves. That’s the equivalent of about $557,800 in 2020. Slaveowners petitioned state, local and colonial governments for compensation when their “property” was lost or stolen.
