Teaching Reparations in Social Work Policy Courses: Ideas from an Instructor and Student

Overview: Advocating for reparations is one way that social workers can support policy priorities to uphold social justice and human rights. This poster presentation seeks to provide ideas for faculty to integrate analysis on reparations in their master’s social work policy course from the perspective of an instructor and student.Proposal text: A central tenant of our social work profession is the commitment to social justice and human rights with our Code of Ethics revisions that direct social workers to “take action against oppression, racism, discrimination, and inequities, and acknowledge personal privilege” (NASW, 2021). Reparations is one way that social workers can support policy priorities, as they work to advocate for equity in the United States (U.S.) for African American descendants (Jones & McElderry, 2021). Further, social workers can be integral in supporting policy priorities that address and act on our grand challenges in social work to support a just society that achieves equal opportunity and justice (McRoy et al., 2016), along with eliminating racism (Teasley et al., 2021).

Noting the minimal scholarship on reparations in social work education (Jones & McElderry, 2021) and within the CSWE policy clearinghouse (CSWE, 2021), this poster presentation seeks to provide ideas for faculty to integrate analysis on reparations in their master’s social work (MSW) policy course from the perspective of an instructor and student who taught and learned about reparations in their MSW policy course.

This poster presents a case study of an individual MSW class on teaching, exploring, and advocating for reparations to those who have experienced inequity in the U.S. Jones and colleagues have found that social work professionals and students agree with “reparations as a strategy to redress present-day disparities” (Jones et al., 2021, p. 1). The policy class included teaching on the legacy of chattel slavery and the connection to ongoing racial injustices, from the Jim Crow laws to redlining (Jimenez et al., 2014). Readings were carefully selected and built over two classes including readings from scholar Nikole Hannah-Jones (2019 & 2020) to a current Op-ed on housing reparations (Fleming, 2021). Topics included covering the history of oppression and social movements in resistance and liberation, analyzing reparations, discussing the H.R. 40 bill to establish a Commission to Study and Develop Reparations (n.d.), reviewing previous U.S. reparations (Hassan & Healy, 2019), and thinking through current housing reparations (Fleming 2021). The discussion on H.R. 40 included watching liberal and conservative testimony on reparations during the 2021 House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Rights (C-Span, 2021), along with discussing scholarship from experts in reparations (Darity, 2020; Darity & Mullen, 2020).

From the instructor’s viewpoint, it was important for students to first explore their positionality on power, racism, oppression, and privilege in connection to social policies that either oppress or provide privilege with themselves and their clients. The readings and activities supported a critical analysis on ways to act on reparations to support social justice and human rights. From the MSW student perspective, this topic provided ideas to advance racial equity and supported an anti-racist social work practice. Further, this topic inspired the student's future assignments, such as an Op-ed on reparations, reading on the 1619 project (Hannah-Jones et al., 2019), and local advocacy ideas on reparations. Overall, this case study supports reparations as an important topic to be covered in MSW policy courses.