Fulton County, GA — Reparations Station — Black American Grassroots Council

In April 2021, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners created a task force to study reparations for Black residents of the county. Five years later, on April 16, 2026, that Reparations Task Force released its Harm Report — a 600-plus-page account of what county government itself did, drawn from the county's own tax digests, court files, and jail records.

This is Phase One. The Board accepted the findings in November 2025 and gave the task force until December 31, 2027 to return with a Repair Report. The task force can only recommend. The Board decides what, if anything, is adopted — and the Board that decides will look very different from the one that started this. This page is the record, and the way to reach them.

★ Released April 16, 2026

The Harm Report

What It Covers

Only harms for which Fulton County government was directly responsible: taxation of enslaved people, convict leasing and chain gangs, land taken through eminent domain and dispossession, discriminatory taxation of Black property owners, racial terror, and segregated public services. The task force counts 21 distinct harms.

The Numbers

Ten years of enslaved labor in the county, 1854–1864, is valued at about $903 billion in today's dollars. Enslaved people accounted for nearly 20% of county revenue each year. Black prison laborers lost an estimated $1.78 billion in wages. Commissioner Arrington puts the total documented harm above $1 trillion.

How It Was Built

Primary sources: 1850s tax ledgers and census records naming enslavers and the people they held, court files, jail logs, and convict-leasing rosters. The calculations use the Extraction-Accumulation Harm Theorem developed by task force chair Dr. Karcheik Sims-Alvarado.

★ Mandate & Machinery

Where It Stands

Created (April 14, 2021)

Board resolution 21-0277, sponsored by Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. The task force is advisory to the Board, and each commissioner appoints two of its members.

Extension & Funding (Nov 19, 2025)

The Board accepted the Harm Report, extended the task force two years past its December 31, 2025 sunset, and approved $250,000. The Repair Report is due by December 31, 2027.

Compensation

No amount, eligibility rule, or program has been recommended. Phase One measured harm only. Options discussed publicly include housing assistance, scholarships, and cash payments.

★ Take Action

Tell the Board
Where We Stand

The task force recommends. The Board of Commissioners votes. Six members are seated, District 4 is vacant, and after the November election more than half the Board will be new. What they hear from residents now sets the terms for the Repair Report. Send the letter.

★ Letter in Preparation

The council is finalizing the text of the letter. Check back shortly — or use the contacts below to write in your own words now. A message you wrote yourself carries more weight than a form letter, and it carries it today.

Subject Line

Open in Email App

★ Add a sentence in your own words before you send — offices weigh identical messages as one.
★ Public comment at a Board meeting enters the record. The Board meets the first and third Wednesday of each month at 10 a.m., in person or by Zoom; sign up before the meeting opens.

★ Fulton County Board of Commissioners

Marvin Arrington Jr. sponsored the task force and represents District 5. Chairman Robb Pitts lost his June primary runoff; Arrington ran for chair rather than re-election; Dana Barrett ran for statewide office. Those three seats will have new occupants in January 2027. Vice Chair Khadijah Abdur-Rahman presides in the chair's absence.

★ Fulton County Government Center · 141 Pryor St. SW, Atlanta, GA 30303 · Main line (404) 612-4000

★ The Public Record

Video, minutes & research

The task force has met in public since October 2021, and the county posts its minutes, agendas, and research presentations. Below are the ones that matter most for understanding the Harm Report. The complete archive is on the county's task force page.

April 16, 2026

Harm Report release & panel, Auburn Avenue Research Library

Video → Slides →

January 15, 2026

Task force meeting (draft minutes)

Minutes → Agenda →

November 6, 2025

Task force meeting, two weeks before the Board presentation (draft minutes)

Minutes → Agenda →

September 5, 2024

Greater Atlanta Reparations Collaborative presentation

Slides →

April 2024

Convict-leasing data presentation (DataWorks)

Slides →

January 18, 2024

"Unearthing Slavery" presentation

Slides → Minutes →

September & October 2022

Bagley Park (Macedonia Park) research updates

September → October →

April 2021 – January 2023

The task force's first annual report

Report →

April 14, 2021

Resolution creating the task force

Resolution →

★ Fulton County — Running Timeline

Upcoming, then newest first

★ Take Action

Open Now

Write the Board of Commissioners

The Repair Report will go to a Board that has not yet been elected. Commissioners seated today can still shape its scope, and candidates can be asked where they stand before November 3. Tell them what a real repair phase should include and who it should reach.

Send the letter →

November 3, 2026

General Election

Voters choose the next Board chair and fill Districts 1, 3, and 5. Democrat Mo Ivory faces Republican Eric Tatum for chair. Districts 3 and 5 have no incumbent running, and District 4 has been vacant since Ivory resigned to run for chair.

Source: Atlanta News First →

January 2027

New Board Seated

More than half the Board will be new members. The commissioner who sponsored the task force and pushed the Harm Report through will no longer hold a seat. The task force will have one year left to deliver its recommendations to a Board that mostly did not create it.

Source: Rough Draft Atlanta →

December 31, 2027

Repair Report Due

The task force's extended term ends. It must present its final recommendations to the Board by this date, with feasibility and cost analysis. Commissioners then vote on what, if anything, to adopt.

Source: SaportaReport →

★ Past Events

June 16, 2026

Chairman Pitts Loses Runoff

Mo Ivory won the Democratic nomination for Board chair with about 65% of the vote, ending Robb Pitts's run as chair, which began in 2017. Pitts had said publicly that he opposes reparations and had voted against extending the task force beyond one year. Arrington, who finished third in the May primary, had endorsed Pitts.

Source: Rough Draft Atlanta →

April 16, 2026

Harm Report Released to the Public

At the Auburn Avenue Research Library, the task force presented the Harm Report, published as a 615-page hardcover volume. It puts the value of stolen labor during 1854–1864 at about $903 billion, documents 21 harms, and traces specific families, including descendants of Bagley Park. The parcel was assessed at nearly $60 million in 2025; the task force estimates the Bagley family's lost property alone would be worth about $15 million today.

Source: CBS News Atlanta →

November 19, 2025

Board Accepts Findings, Extends Task Force Two Years

The task force presented a summary of the report to commissioners in a heated session. The Board accepted the findings, approved $250,000, allowed the task force to meet remotely, and passed Arrington's motion extending its work 24 months, after a 12-month extension had also been approved. The stated next phase is a Repair Report with costed, feasible recommendations.

Source: 11Alive →

January 2023

First Annual Report

The task force published a report covering its first two years, April 2021 through January 2023, setting out its structure, work plan, and early research on slavery-era records and Bagley Park.

Source: Fulton County — Annual Report (PDF) →

September – October 2022

Bagley Park Research Presented

Researchers reported to the task force on the 1930s dismantling of the Black community of Bagley Park, also called Macedonia Park, in Buckhead. The case became the report's central example of land dispossession by county action.

Source: Fulton County — Research Update (PDF) →

October 7, 2021

First Recorded Meeting

The task force began meeting publicly, six months after its creation. Its 2021 minutes are the first entries in the county's archive.

Source: Fulton County — Minutes (PDF) →

April 14, 2021

Board Creates the Task Force

Commissioners passed resolution 21-0277, sponsored by Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr., who said he was inspired by Evanston, Illinois. The task force was charged with researching the feasibility of slavery reparations for Black residents of Fulton County and advising the Board.

Source: Fulton County — Resolution (PDF) →

★ Note

Nothing in the Harm Report is binding. The task force is advisory, the Board has accepted the findings but adopted no remedy, and no payment, program, or eligibility rule exists. Everything that follows depends on the Repair Report and on a Board vote.

Georgia law will shape what that report can propose. The state constitution restricts local governments from giving public money to private parties without a public benefit in return, and counties hold only the powers the legislature grants them. That is why the task force is concentrating on areas the county controls directly: courts, jails, health, libraries, property taxes, and parks. Any cash remedy would need a legal basis that clears both limits.

Who qualifies is also unsettled. The task force has published no eligibility criteria. Its research method, tracing named individuals through tax digests, court files, and jail rosters, suggests any standard will rest on documentation, but that is for the Repair Report to decide.