The 1862 DC emancipation law funded Black emigration abroad

Evidence

“Sec. 11. And be it further enacted, That the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, is hereby appropriated, to be expended under the direction of the President of the United States, to aid in the colonization and settlement of such free persons of African descent now residing in said District, including those to be liberated by this act, as may desire to emigrate to the Republics of Hayti or Liberia, or such other country beyond the limits of the United States as the President may determine: Provided, The expenditure for this purpose shall not exceed one hundred dollars for each emigrant.” An Act for the Release of Certain Persons held to Service or Labor in the District of Columbia, 37th Cong., Sess. 2 (April 16, 1862). — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 682

Categorization

• QUESTION: The federal government simultaneously compensated enslavers while funding removal of freed people — worth pinning down exactly how much was actually spent and who emigrated.