#FAM

Why Freedmen?

Created in 1865, Freedmen refers to the formerly enslaved Black Americans who were freed via the emancipation proclamation and 13th amendment and their descendants. We believe in reactivating the term Freedmen for three purposes:

  1. Reinstate pride that is linked directly to our past.

  2. Advocacy for the establishment of an ethnic designation for those who share the same heritage as the formerly enslaved victims of chattel slavery and Jim Crow.

  3. Reactivate political protections for American Freedmen who have been plagued by the failures of Reconstruction and Jim Crow.

Freedmen Political Advocacy

The Freedmen Agenda League of Michigan seeks to achieve political prosperity and justice for Freedmen. In order to achieve our goals, we believe in establishing or achieving the following initiatives:

Michigan Reparations Task Force

The Freedmen agenda league of Michigan seeks to establish a Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for American Freedmen (Persons Enslaved in the United States and their descendants). The purpose of the Task Force is: (1) to study and develop reparation proposals for American Freedmen; (2) to recommend appropriate ways to educate the Michigan public of the task force's findings; and (3) to recommend appropriate remedies in consideration of the Task Force’s findings.

Federal Reparations

WE Believe that Congress must establish and enact a federally led Reparations Program that seeks to achieve the failed promise of Reconstruction. We believe a Reparations program should prioritize the full repair of the descendants of Freedmen by way of policies and protections that seek to do away with the badges of Slavery and Jim Crow in America. We believe that a reparations package for the descendants of the formerly enslaved should be an ongoing project that seeks to establish the 5 key components outlined by United Nations on full reparations.

Data Disaggregation

We believe that with data disaggregation, we can advocate for the needs of descendant community with greater specificity and success! With delineation, we can access more accurate data on the socioeconomic conditions of American Freedmen and create unique solutions tailored to close disparities with the urgency they deserve.

Office of Freedmen Affairs (OFA)

The lack of targeted specificity with 'minority' programs perpetuates the ongoing economic disparities impacting descendants of American Freedmen. The OFA will create local jobs and efficiently deliver targeted services to the chronically underrepresented Freedmen community. OFA will delineate, count, record, maintain and report the vital statistics of the Freedmen population across all local, state, and federal jurisdictions and will provide recommendations and reporting in the state of Michigan. #PushTheOFA