The Cost of Inheritance

The Cost of Inheritance: An America ReFramed Special, is an hour-long documentary co-produced by WQED and the Center for Social Solutions at the University of Michigan, presented in partnership with the WORLD Channel and American Documentary.

Watch “The Cost of Inheritance” Online

The film premiered Jan. 8, 2024 at 10:00 p.m. ET on WQED-TV, PBS, the PBS app, and PBS YouTube.

Catch an encore broadcast on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 15, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. ET on the WORLD Channel — available in Pittsburgh on broadcast channel 13.3, channel 473 on Verizon FiOS, channel 1013 on Comcast Xfinity, wqed.org and worldchannel.org.

Watch the Trailer:

The Cost of Inheritance is presented by WQED and the WGBH World Channel series America Reframed. Building on key issues of diversity and democracy; slavery and its aftermath; and socio-economic indicators, this documentary puts real people and their family histories into the reparations debate. Personal stories, expert interviews and rich archival materials underscored by evocative music, weaves a narrative around the issue of reparations today so many years after the historical understanding of the end of slavery in America. Noted speakers address the cumulative impact that Reconstruction, Black Laws, Jim Crow, modern day violence, and discrimination added to divergent wealth trajectories and opportunities firmly rooted in the system of enslavement. Individuals seeking to bridge our human divide share their reparations quests and we begin to understand the myriad of initiatives already happening across the country on local, state & national levels to make reparations a reality.

The documentary is a co-production by WQED & the Center for Social Solutions (CSS) at the University of Michigan; Executive Producer: Darryl Ford Williams; Director: Yoruba Richen.

Photo Gallery

Studio portrait of African American family, Liberty Missouri, c 1900

Black farmers protest against the USDA, Washington, D.C., 1997

Randy Quarterman and Sarah Eisner walk the land.

The Cost of Inheritance production crew with President of the Black Farmers Association John Boyd.

Advertisement for sale of enslaved Africans, circa 1760

Segregationist sign in diner window, Albany, Georgia.

Callie House was one of the first people to organize for reparations for the formerly enslaved.

Attorney Don Tamaki being interviewed by director Yoruba Richen

Dr. Mary Frances Berry, author and historian.

Briayna Cuffie and Lotte Lieb Dula during an interview at Lotte’s home.

Executive Producer Darryl Ford Williams, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and director Yoruba Richen.

Gen. William Sherman’s Field Order 15, granting freed slaves 40 acres and a mule.

George A. Keller and sons, ancestors of Sarah Eisner.

Gullah Geechee storyteller Patt Gunn conducts a historical tour.

John Boyd, American farmer and founding president of the National Black Farmers Association.

Marcus Garvey, Black Nationalist and the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, c. 1924

Randy Quarterman, descendent of enslaved Zeke Quarterman, prepares for his interview

Director Yoruba Richen interviews Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.

Sarah Eisner, co-founder of the Reparations Project.

Port of Savannah slave manifests, circa 1829

Storyteller Norma Johnson, Lotte Lieb Dula and Briayna Cuffie being interviewed.

The University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions promotes academic research and social policy that serves the common good in four program areas: Diversity and Democracy; Slavery and Its Aftermath; Water, Equity, and Security; and The Future of Work. By applying rigorous scholarship to the real world, we offer tangible solutions to current problems, promote public good, and strengthen our global community.”