Repairing Historical Harm: Genealogy and Collective Repair (Champaign-Urbana)

Learn about Repairing Historical Harm: Genealogy and Collective Repair and receive a free DNA kit.

Coffee and bagels will be provided, and attendees may receive a free DNA kit.

This event brings together genealogical research, historical analysis, and local reparations advocacy to examine how communities can meaningfully address the enduring harms of slavery, segregation, and racialized exclusion. By placing genealogical research alongside CURC’s reparations work, the event illustrates how distinct approaches to historical harm can inform complementary pathways toward truth-telling, accountability, and repair.

The event features the work of The African Kinship Reunion (TAKiR) alongside the Champaign-Urbana Reparations Coalition (CURC), bringing distinct research and advocacy efforts into a shared public conversation. TAKiR focuses on reconstructing extended family connections disrupted by mass human trafficking from Africa and its enduring structural consequences, while CURC centers reparations work on the specific historical and structural harms experienced by African Americans in Champaign County.

CURC’s contribution emphasizes the “why” and the “how” of reparations work. Drawing on documented local histories—including racially restrictive covenants, segregated public housing, exclusionary housing markets, and discriminatory municipal practices—the presentation situates reparations work within a broader landscape of cumulative harm and lost opportunity. Reparations are framed not solely as financial compensation, but as a multidimensional process involving education, acknowledgment, restitution, rehabilitation, and guarantees of non-repetition. CURC also outlines ongoing local and national reparations efforts, including the movement to establish a Champaign County Reparations Commission and the role institutions such as the University of Illinois can play in supporting harm documentation and community-driven solutions.

Together, TAKiR and CURC demonstrate how genealogical research and local reparations advocacy can work collaboratively to support collective repair—restoring family histories, documenting structural harm, informing policy conversations, and strengthening community claims for justice. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how genealogy intersects with reparations, public memory, and institutional accountability—and how local communities can mobilize historical evidence to support healing-oriented action.

This event is intended for community members, students, researchers, policymakers, and advocates interested in genealogy, reparations, African American history, and the role of public institutions in repairing historical harm.

https://champaign.org/visit/hours-locations/douglass-branch-library

AGE GROUP: | Adults |

EVENT TYPE: | Local History & Genealogy | Adult |