Indeed, Laveaux suggested, laying out perhaps for the first time the argument for reparations for slavery, the plantation workers might well say: “Now that the laws have given us back to ourselves, now that, following the example of the French of Europe, we have conquered our liberty, we demand payment for all the time we worked for you, and damages for all the bad treatment we suffered.”

Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ …, loc. 306