Hosted by Howard University Knight Chair in Race & Journalism Nikole Hannah-Jones and the Rockefeller Foundation, this convening is a gathering for reparations and healing experts from around the world to build relationships and learn from each other in order to deepen their understanding of, and develop and refine strategies to advance, reparations and healing work in their own spheres and as a collective.

The Bellagio Summit presents an opportunity to holistically address the legacies of the Transatlantic slave trade and strategies for reparations and racial healing. It provides a launching point for renewed and revitalized action toward reparations and racial healing around the world by creating a platform for the unification of a global action plan for reparations and to support current actions and processes. The dialogue in Bellagio focuses on the role Western institutions play in perpetuating the exploitation of Black people around the world.

Attendees at Bellagio will grapple with reframing narratives about the role of Europeans and European Institutions in the Transatlantic slave trade, will articulate the current state of reparations efforts, and will address the global systems that continue to exploit the Black world. It also provides an opportunity for various actors on the continent and from the Diaspora to commit to redefining strategy, build bridges and engender trust in a global campaign for reparations and healing.

This summit will nurture emergent views and innovative approaches to engaging in cross-continental dialogues with the hopes of co-creating a shared vision and collective capacity for reparative justice and racial healing for all people of African descent. This is an opportunity to leverage existing initiatives, amplify that work, and illuminate opportunities to harness various interests and aspirations.