The Reparations Won Curriculum: Examining Dignity Restoration through Education

The Reparations Won curriculum operates within a larger quest for justice and reparations for survivors of Chicago police torture in the 1970s to the 1990s. Little, however, is known about how Reparations Won works in the context of Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago policy landscape; moreover, little is known about how the curriculum interacts with the goals of forward-looking reparations and healing for torture survivors. In this paper, I explore how the participation of impacted survivors of Chicago police torture impacts the curriculum and how it is experienced by survivors and students. Using qualitative interviews with various stakeholders in the curriculum and a qualitative analysis of the curriculum, I find that survivors have a tenuous and conditional relationship to the creation and implementation process of the curriculum; as a result, the curriculum has the potential to and does, for at least some survivors, afford the promises of dignity restoration and reparations, leading to healing, hope, and enhanced understanding. I recommend that survivors' role in Reparations Won be solidified and better supported by Chicago Public Schools and collaborating organizations. This study has implications for reparations policy and social movements as they wrestle with the role of impacted individuals and communities.