A Call to Unity and Work: Freedmen Must Move Forward Together

For generations, As Descendants of American Slaves, our families have carried the weight of unfinished work. Our ancestors endured chattel slavery in the United States, Reconstruction betrayal, Jim Crow, and systemic exclusion from the economic and political systems that built this country. Today, the responsibility of finishing that work rests with us.

The Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust (FRFT) and Freedmen Nation are issuing a clear call to action.

This is a call to all organizations, institutions, and community leaders who claim to represent As Descendants of American Slaves — including those operating under the terms Freedmen, ADOS, FBA, Negro, and other historically connected identities. While these terms may differ, the historical reality that binds our families is the same: we are the descendants of those enslaved in the United States.

The work before us is too important to remain divided by labels.

For too long, energy has been spent debating terminology, branding, and ideological differences while the structural issues affecting our communities continue largely unaddressed. As Descendants of American Slaves, we face serious challenges that require coordinated, organized, and sustained institutional work.

This includes:

• Protecting the historical record of our people

• Ensuring accurate documentation of our families and communities

• Building economic structures that serve our descendants

• Developing legal strategies that defend our rights and status

• Creating systems of verification, organization, and governance that can operate nationally

No single organization can complete this work alone.

The Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust was established as a fiduciary institution to support long-term structural work for As Descendants of American Slaves. Freedmen Nation operates as a membership verification system designed to help document and organize the families connected to this history.

But these efforts are not intended to exclude others.

Instead, they are intended to create infrastructure that can support the broader community — regardless of whether someone identifies primarily as Freedmen, ADOS, FBA, Negro, or another historically connected classification connected to Descendants of American Slaves.

The reality is simple: As Descendants of American Slaves, we represent one of the most historically documented populations in the world, yet we remain one of the most institutionally unorganized.

That must change.

The future will require cooperation between historians, genealogists, community leaders, educators, legal advocates, economists, and organizers. It will require organizations to collaborate instead of competing for attention or influence.

Our ancestors survived the worst conditions imaginable and still built families, churches, businesses, schools, and cultural institutions that carried our communities forward. They did not survive so that their descendants could remain fragmented.

They survived so that we could finish the work they began.

The Freedmen Reparations Fund Trust and Freedmen Nation are therefore extending an open call to organizations and leaders across the country: let us focus on the work that matters.

The preservation of our history.

The protection of our families.

The development of real institutions.

And the advancement of our people.

This moment requires seriousness, cooperation, and institutional thinking.

Division weakens us.

Structure strengthens us.

Work moves us forward.

As Descendants of American Slaves, we have work to do — and the time to do it is now.