This Day in History: 0000-08-20
August 10, 1988- “Reparations for Japanese American Internees” “U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 442 was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, which provided for a payment of $20,000 to each surviving Japanese American who was interned at American camps during the Second World War. It also provided for a $1.25 billion education fund, among other provisions. It sought to address the injuries caused to Japanese Americans by the internment of those citizens during the Second World War. Approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans had to liquidate their assets on three days’ notice and relocate to remote prison camps.”
1773 - “Phillis Wheatley's 'Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral' Published” "Phillis Wheatley, the first professional African-American woman poet, became the first African-American woman whose writings were published with the printing of this volume. The book was published by Archibald Bell, the leading bookseller and printer London at the time, who required proof that Wheatley had written the poems herself. The volume of poems, 39 in all, broke barriers for African-American writers, as it was illegal in several of the states in the U.S. for a slave to learn how to read or write."