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The Reporting Desk

Primary-source reportingArchives · Congress · Treasury · Courts

Every investigation is reported on lineage — the debt owed to descendants of people enslaved in the United States — and cites the documents behind it. Read our editorial standards.

Lead investigation · Federal Ledger

The $14 Trillion Federal Balance Sheet: How Sovereign Debt Actually Gets Funded

America funds trillion-dollar commitments through Treasury borrowing and multi-year schedules. A reparations settlement fits the same machinery — the barrier is political, not fiscal.

“The barrier has never been the balance sheet. It is the decision to record the debt at all.”

6 min read · Reparations News Staff

Read the investigation

United States Treasury building, Washington, D.C., 1861–1865

Key documents

Campus & Young Organizers

HBCU organizing, student debt against the wealth gap and lineage caucuses led by young people.

Open Campus & Young Organizers →

Chamber of the United States House of Representatives

Contact Officials

How to Contact Your Representatives About Reparations

Fannie Lou Hamer testifying at the 1964 Democratic National Convention credentials committee

Public Hearings

How to Testify at a Public Hearing

Former Freedman’s Savings Bank building, Washington, D.C., circa 1890, printed later

Economic Analysis

Measuring the Racial Wealth Gap

Hawkins Wilson’s letter seeking his separated family, May 11, 1867

Genealogy

Researching Your Family History

Live dispatch

American News Wire

Local News Feed

Recent reporting on reparations bills and community efforts across the United States.

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Confidential tip line

Hold a record the public should see?

Archivists, municipal workers, researchers and community advocates: send us primary documents, FOIA records or legislative tips. Our editors read every submission and will not publish your name without permission.