Black Power advocate James Forman, former chair of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), interrupted worship at New York City's Riverside Church on May 4, 1969 and presented a manifesto for reparations to the largely white congregation.

It demanded $500 million from US churches and synagogues for their role in slavery and segregation, “the vast system of controls over black people and their minds” (Forman, 1997, p. 547). The money would support a southern land bank, four television networks, and a university. The document was ratified in April at the Detroit-based National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC), which coordinated presentations, dialogues, and compensations. But its plans faltered. SNCC, for example, declined to endorse the manifesto. While churchmen and women involved in civil rights usually endorsed it, Jewish leaders unanimously rejected it. NBEDC channeled most of the half-million dollars ultimately received to organizations such as the National Urban League.