And just how do you calculate wealth that might have been passed down through multiple generations? What was the minimum wage in 1840? Face it. This is stupid. I may as well sue for the possible earnings of my GGGrandfather who was killed by the US Government at Appomatox.
You figure out the prevailing market wage at the time, you use a 40-hour work week, and you pay interest on the money.
You pay the descendents of slaves what they're owed first; you put the monies due slaves whose lines have ended into some sort of fund and apply it to something related to the idea that it's restitution for a national crime.
It's actually not difficult at all--high school level math and finance, so I'm surprised that a college man like yourself can't understand it.