Freedmen News

A new episode featuring Arthur Watkins is now available on YouTube, continuing an important national conversation on reparations through an institutional and economic lens. In this episode, Arthur Watkins joins First Things First to discuss how structured governance, business principles, and verified status frameworks can move reparations from rhetoric to implementation. The conversation focuses on sustainability, accountability, and why institution-building matters when addr

Freedmen-focused non-profits are doing critical work—education, advocacy, history preservation, economic uplift—but many face the same structural limits: inconsistent verification standards, legal exposure around identity-based claims, restricted funding uses, and vulnerability to misclassification or mission drift. These challenges are not failures of intent; they are consequences of operating inside a nonprofit framework that was never designed to govern lineage-based statu

In Freedmen Nation, we take family seriously — not just in name, but in truth, law, and bloodline. That’s why The Cookout isn’t just a cultural symbol. It’s a private, secured space reserved only for those who have completed their genealogy and been verified as Freedmen under the Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust. This isn’t about vibes. This is about verified family. What Is The Cookout? “The Cookout” is a Freedmen-only circle. It’s where our verified members gather, connect,