The History of Fredericksburg, VA and the Idea of Reparations

 

The following excerpt is from The History of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia prepared by Silvanus Jackson Quinn for the Common Council of the City of Fredericksburg in 1908.  Unfortunately, it does not provide any citations for the story. Nevertheless, parts of the story ring true: the initial hope that justice would be done, the disappointment when it was not, the loss of faith in the government institution, and the authors repetition, a half century after the events, of the belief that it was absurd to think that formerly enslaved people should be compensated.