As the national debate around reparations intensifies, Philadelphia is home to a grassroots push that demands more than just recognition, it’s calling for legislation. P.O.C. sat down with the self-proclaimed “unseated council president” and current president of the Philadelphia Reparations Coalition, Ogbonna Hagins, to discuss what it means to be a Freedman and how that specific identity is tied to constitutional law, not simply skin color.
“A lot of people don’t realize, ‘Black’ isn’t a legal status,” he explained. “But Freedman is. It refers specifically to the lineal descendants of chattel slavery in the U.S., not every melanated person.” That distinction matters when it comes to protections, benefits, and reparative claims under the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
The conversation dug deep into the legacy of the Freedmen’s Bureau, which, though dismantled in 1872, was never legally overturned. According to the coalition, that makes it an active legal structure that can and should be reinstated. “Reconstruction wasn’t just history. It was the law. That law has been abandoned, but never erased.”
From advocating for an official Office of Freedmen Affairs in Philadelphia to pushing for Freedmen hospitals, land, and schools, the coalition is building what it calls Reconstruction 2.0. The goal? Restoring the inheritance of those freed by constitutional decree and ensuring that remedies such as education, healthcare, and land rights are properly allocated.
In Philadelphia, the fight isn’t just alive, it’s legal, it’s local, and it’s loud.
For more information, visit freedmancoalition.org.