so let's say payments are due.
well, the originally offended party would be the freed slave. they would have been due something. what? don't know. so let's pull a number out of the hat.
in 1865, an ounce of gold was $20 (one website
http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capi...es17922012.pdf says it was $18.93), but since we were minting $20 double gold eagles, we'll go with that.
skilled labor in 1865 was about $20/week
https://outrunchange.com/2012/06/14/...-through-1890/
so let's say we granted a freed slave a year's wages ($1000 back then, or 50 ounces of gold) and his freedom.
fast forward to today, and an ounce of gold is at about $1360/ounce
https://goldprice.org
so.... that 50 ounces of gold converts to 50 x 1360 = 68000...hmmm....pretty close to a year's wage for a skilled trade. interesting.
but..
that was for the original slave. if he had sons, and they had sons....well, that has to be accounted for as each generation would have split up the original amount, had it been paid long ago.
so let's say you, as a black man, have about 25 ancestors between you and the freed slave. well, that would divvy up things 25 ways, so you'd be owed about 2 ounces of gold in today's time. or about $2720.
time to open Fort Knox.