The question of reparations has a long and contentious history. Reparations were part of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, with payments made to slave owners for their economic loss. These payments compounded and entrenched wealth and power in many institutional and family names familiar today. Conversely, the issue of reparations to families, communities, and populations who lived through or continue to experience the deprivations and racism entrenched by chattel slavery have been fiercely contested.