100 Years of Receipts Campaign
Documenting America’s Long Battle Against Human Dignity
Exposing the policies, laws, and practices that have systematically denied full humanity to Black and marginalized communities for over a century—and demanding accountability.
Immigration and Exclusion
(1882-Present)
From the Chinese Exclusion Act to modern detention policies, America’s immigration system reveals how racial hierarchies extend beyond Black-white relations—showing a pattern of denying full humanity to all people of color seeking dignity and opportunity.
Legalized Dehumanization
(1896-1954)
America enshrined the denial of Black humanity into law through segregation policies that deliberately created unequal citizenship and stripped away basic dignity.
Economic Dignity Denied
(1934-1968)
Federal housing policies deliberately excluded Black Americans from pathways to economic stability and homeownership—denying the dignity of financial security and self-determination.
Democracy Restricted
(1965-Present)
America’s ongoing struggle to deny full democratic participation reveals a persistent unwillingness to recognize the equal dignity and citizenship of all Americans.
Mass Criminalization
(1971-Present)
The criminalization of Black communities through the War on Drugs stripped millions of their freedom, voting rights, and the dignity of equal treatment under law.
About the Campaign
For over a century, America has accumulated receipts—proof of policies, decisions, and actions that have systematically oppressed Black and marginalized communities. From slavery and Jim Crow to redlining, mass incarceration, voter suppression, and environmental racism, the ledger is long and irrefutable.
The 100 Years of Receipts campaign by Defy Racism Collective is a multi-platform initiative that documents how American institutions have consistently undermined the fundamental human dignity of Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized communities. We’re not just remembering history—we’re demanding accountability and justice for the harm that continues today.
By exposing these “receipts,” we transform historical documentation into tools for action. We’re not just collecting receipts—we’re presenting the bill for America’s long battle against human dignity.
The Scope of Injustice
Systemic racism has infiltrated every aspect of American life, creating a comprehensive assault on human dignity:
Justice System
- Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at nearly 5 times the rate of white Americans, according to The Sentencing Project (2021)
- The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that Black men are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white men
- According to the United States Sentencing Commission (2017), Black male offenders received sentences on average 19.1% longer than similarly situated white male offenders
Economic Opportunity
- Federal Reserve data (2019) shows the typical white family has eight times the wealth of the typical Black family
- The National Community Reinvestment Coalition documented ongoing lending discrimination, with Black applicants being denied mortgages at 80% higher rates than white applicants (2020)
- The Economic Policy Institute found that Black workers are paid 73 cents for every dollar paid to white workers (2022)
Democratic Participation
- Since Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Brennan Center for Justice has documented the closure of at least 1,688 polling places, primarily in areas with significant minority populations
- The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (2018) found that minority voters wait in line to vote nearly twice as long as white voters
- According to the ACLU, 11% of U.S. citizens – or about 21 million Americans – do not have government-issued photo identification, with minorities disproportionately affected
Education
- According to EdBuild (2019), predominantly white school districts receive $23 billion more in funding than districts serving mostly students of color
- The Government Accountability Office found that the percentage of K-12 public schools with high percentages of poor and Black or Hispanic students grew from 9% to 16% between 2001 and 2016
- The National Center for Education Statistics reports persistent achievement gaps, with Black students scoring an average of 25 points lower than white students on standardized math assessments
Health & Wellbeing
- According to the CDC, Black women are 3 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women
- Research in the American Journal of Public Health found that Black Americans are 75% more likely than white Americans to live near commercial facilities that produce noise, odor, traffic, or emissions
- The USDA has identified that 19% of Black households are food insecure, compared to 8.1% of white households
These aren’t coincidences. They’re the direct result of deliberate policies created decades ago—policies we have the receipts for.
The Unbroken Chain: 100 Years of Constitutional Contradiction Interactive Timeline
Explore our interactive timeline documenting over a century of policies that have systematically denied human dignity and equal rights to Black Americans and other marginalized communities.
Featured Receipts:
1896
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
The Supreme Court’s “separate but equal” doctrine legalized second-class citizenship for nearly 60 years, with Justice Brown callously stating that if Black Americans felt inferior under segregation, it was “solely because the colored race chooses to put that construction upon it.”
1876
United States v. Cruikshank
Following the Colfax Massacre where white supremacists murdered 150 Black Americans, the Supreme Court restricted federal power to prosecute racial violence, effectively abandoning Black citizens to state-sanctioned terrorism.
1954
Brown v. Board of Education
While declaring “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” implementation was so vigorously resisted that ten years later, only 2.3% of Black students in former Confederate states attended integrated schools.
2013
Shelby County v. Holder
Citing that “our country has changed,” the Court gutted Voting Rights Act protections—despite overwhelming evidence of ongoing discrimination. Within just 24 hours, Texas announced voter restrictions targeting minority communities.
2022
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health
This decision eliminating federal abortion protections has disproportionately impacted Black women, who face maternal mortality rates three times higher than white women—continuing a pattern of denying bodily autonomy to women of color.
2023
Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard
The Court ended race-conscious college admissions that sought to remedy centuries of educational exclusion, with Chief Justice Roberts dismissing the significance of race as merely “the color of their skin” rather than a lived reality.
Want to see the other receipts?
The Groveland Four: Falsely Accused and Wrongfully Convicted (1949)
Four young Black men — Charles Greenlee, Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, and Ernest Thomas — were falsely accused of raping a white woman in Lake County, Florida. Thomas was hunted down and killed before trial. The others were convicted by all-white juries. Shepherd was later shot and killed while in custody. Though pardoned posthumously in 2019, their case demonstrates the historic injustice of the criminal legal system.
Sources:
Equal Justice Initiative
Florida State Archives
Dorothy Counts: Faced Hatred During School Desegregation (1957)
Fifteen-year-old Dorothy Counts was one of the first Black students to attend the previously all-white Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Famous photographs show her walking to school surrounded by a jeering white crowd. After enduring days of harassment and threats, her parents transferred her out for her safety.
Sources:
Charlotte Observer historical archives
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Clyde Kennard: Denied Education and Framed (1960)
Clyde Kennard, a Black Korean War veteran, repeatedly attempted to enroll at the all-white Mississippi Southern College (now University of Southern Mississippi). State officials, including the governor, blocked his admission. He was later falsely accused of stealing chicken feed and sentenced to seven years in prison. He developed cancer while incarcerated and died shortly after being released.
Sources:
The University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Viola Liuzzo: Murdered for Fighting for Voting Rights (1965)
Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights activist from Michigan, was murdered by Ku Klux Klan members after participating in the Selma to Montgomery voting rights march. She was driving Black marchers back to Selma when she was shot and killed. Her murder highlighted the violent resistance to Black voting rights.
Sources:
Civil Rights Memorial Center, Southern Poverty Law Center
National Women’s History Museum