Washington ? Several thousand supporters of reparations for slavery gathered Saturday in front of the Capitol and demanded a national dialogue on how to repay the descendants of slaves for their centuries of free labor.

“We are millions strong. Reparations are a global issue now,” Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., told the crowd scattered along the National Mall.

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan demands land reparations for slavery Saturday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The rally, whose theme was “Reparations Now: They Owe Us,” marked the first such mass gathering in Washington in favor of federal compensation to the descendants of African-American slaves.

Organizers said they hoped the rally would spark broad debate on the effects of slavery and the issue of whether the federal government, or private companies, should somehow compensate descendants of slaves 137 years after the practice was abolished in the United States.

While the issue remains controversial, dividing even black Americans, most of those at the rally cheered the speakers demanding federal compensation.

“America owes black people (and) Native Americans a lot for what we have endured,” said Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam. “Black America must unite on the principle of reparations.”

Descendants of slaves should obtain significant federal territory rather than cash payment from the government, Farrakhan said.

“We need land as a basis of economic and political independence. We can’t settle for some little jive token. We need millions of acres of land,” Farrakhan said.

Activists arrived from more than 30 states, organizers said. They poured onto the National Mall after marching from the Robert F. Kennedy Stadium under a blazing sun.

“Obviously, there are a lot of black people who feel very strongly about this. Otherwise they wouldn’t be here on a 94-degree day,” said Glenda Royal, who came from New York City.

“America is in a serious state of denial,” said Alvin Brown, who came with a group of 47 from St. Louis to attend the rally. “We’re talking about a crime chattel slavery that was committed against one group of people.”

Organizers of the rally said reparations had been paid to a number of groups victimized by history, including Japanese Americans sent to internment camps and Holocaust survivors of World War II, some Sioux and Ottawa Native Americans, and other groups.

Antoinette Harrell of New Orleans demonstrates in front of the U.S. Capitol for reparations for slavery. Thousands rallied Saturday, saying it is long past time to compensate blacks for the ills of slavery.

“It’s a real simple issue. There was a crime. It has to be compensated for,” said Viola Plummer, national coordinator for the rally.

Plummer, appearing on a C-Span television call-in show, dismissed arguments that too much time had passed since the abolition of slavery to discuss reparations.

“Slavery was a crime against humanity,” she said. “Therefore, there is no statute of limitations.”

Conyers, serving his 19th term in the House, said he has been trying since 1989 to get his colleagues to undertake an exhaustive study of the reparations issue, but that a House committee has blocked the matter.

“You could be uncommitted on reparations and support that,” Conyers said. “I’m not asking for blood; just support the study.”

Rally supporters noted that the U.S. government never made good on a pledge at the end of the Civil War to provide newly freed slaves with 40 acres and a mule. Many at the rally wore T-shirts that said, “I want my 40 acres.”

In March, the great-great-granddaughter of a South Carolina slave filed suit in federal court against three companies for damages and a share of the profits they allegedly made in the era of slavery.

Several prominent lawyers, including Johnnie Cochran of Los Angeles, say they are preparing other lawsuits to demand reparations for descendants of slaves.