The act aims to create a commission to examine the merits of introducing reparations to African-Americans for US slavery.

The most recent sponsor of the act was Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who introduced the bill in January 2023 before her death in 2024.

The "40" number refers to "the unfulfilled promise" the United States "made to freed slaves: that after the Civil War, they would get forty acres and a mule".

[5] In April 2021, the bill cleared committee for the first time in its history, heading to the House floor for markups and a vote.

[6][7] The bill, first proposed in 1989 by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (former U.S. Representative for Michigan) calling for the creation of Commission to study and submit a formal report to Congress and the American people with its findings and recommendations on remedies and reparation proposals for African-Americans, as a result of As of April 19, 2024: