The law stems from a series of recommendations made by the California reparations task force, designed to end and redress the legacy of anti-Black policies throughout the state’s history. The task force also recommended direct cash payments to Californians who can prove their ancestors were enslaved in the United States. The prints are a series of monochromatic maritime scenes that once belonged to Rosenfeld, a German Jew and art collector. As part of the process, she had to prove her lineage — similar to what the California reparations plan proposes for people hoping to claim benefits earmarked for the descendants of enslaved Africans. “I reconnected to the idea of the fact that this is our country — my family’s history is in Germany,” she said.