Many Major Corporations That Got Rich From The Slavery Of Blacks In USA, Still Exist Today

When slavery of Blacks in the USA is discussed, we are often carried away with the gorry details and the dehumanization of Africans who were stolen and taken to America to be enslaved. But we often forget to discuss the tremendous wealth which was created off the backs and sweat of enslaved Africans.

Out of the sweat of these dehumanized Africans, came the tremendous wealth that America enjoys today. And this is seen through the various Corporations that benefitted from the enslavement of Africans.

This article points to a few of these corperations and how they exploited kidnapped, sold, and enslaved Africans to create wealth, and how they are still existing till this date.

“The enslavement of African people in the Americas by the nations and people of Western Europe, created the economic engine that funded modern capitalism. Therefore it comes as no surprise that most of the major corporations that were founded by Western European and American merchants prior to 100 years ago, benefited directly from slavery.”

-Culled from The Atlanta Black Star–

According to the NBC News, a Steve Wing aged 71, read the signage found near a sculpture commemorating the slave trade. This memorial is dedicated to the legacy of enslaved black people and those terrorized by lynching and by Jim Crow segregation in America. As conceived by the Equal Justice Initiative, the physical environment intends to foster reflection on America’s history of racial inequality.

This is why manifesting reparations is equally as important for Black people in America as ending the system of racism and white supremacy. Because Equality and equity are not the same thing, Black America is long overdue for a fair share of equity.

Did you know that trillions of dollars and entire empires were built from the labor and ingenuity of Black people in America?

There can never be justice in America until the descendants of the people who earned America’s enormous amount of wealth, get their share. If “Black lives matter” then America’s largest banking institutions and corporations should repay black people in America.

America would not have accumulated the wealth and power it has without centuries of exploiting black labor for white wealth. The companies mentioned below are just a few of the major American corporations that profited From slavery.

– J.P. Morgan Chase, Investment Banking Company (Profited from slavery).

“J.P. Morgan Chase filed a disclosure statement with the city of Chicago on January 20 acknowledging that between 1831 and 1865, two of J.P. Morgan Chase’s predecessor banks; Citizens Bank and Canal Bank in Louisiana accepted approximately 13,000 slaves as collateral for loans and ended up owning approximately 1,250 of them as a result of defaults.”

– Culled from The New York Sun –

-Lehman Brothers, Banking Investment Company (Built Wealth From Cotton Harvested By Slaves).

“The Lehman family members were Alabama cotton brokers. In 1850 they founded Lehman Brothers Investments, acquiring their capital and wealth by investing and trading in cotton. Three sons moved to New York City in 1858, where they later helped to establish the New York Cotton Exchange in 1870.”

– Culled from Workers.org –

-Wachovia Bank built wealth from slavery profits (now owned by Wells Fargo)

Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia issued a 111-page report to comply with a Chicago ordinance that requires companies that do business with the city to disclose whether they profited from slavery, which ended in the United States in 1865.

”On behalf of Wachovia Corporation, I apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans and people of African descent,” said Ken Thompson, Wachovia chairman, and chief executive officer, in the statement released late Wednesday.

He further said “We are deeply saddened by these findings. Historians at the History Factory, a research firm specializing in corporate archival work, found that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company and the Bank of Charleston institutions that ultimately became part of Wachovia through acquisitions of owned slaves, Wachovia said in the statement.

Records revealed that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company owned at least 162 slaves and that the Bank of Charleston accepted at least 529 slaves as collateral on mortgaged properties or loans. The Bank of Charleston also acquired an undetermined number of people when customers defaulted on their loans.”

– Culled from CNN Money –

– New York Life Insurance Company Had Policies That Reimburse Slave Owners For Dead Slaves

“New York Life, the nation’s third-largest life insurance company, opened in Manhattan’s financial district in the spring of 1845. The firm possessed a prime address-58 Wall Street and a board of trustees populated by some of the city’s wealthiest merchants, bankers and railroad magnates. Sales were sluggish that year. So the company looked south. There, in Richmond, VA, an enterprising New York Life agent sold more than 30 policies in a single day in February 1846. Soon, advertisements began appearing in newspapers from Wilmington, N.C, to Louisville as the New York-based company encouraged Southerners to buy insurance to protect their most precious commodity: their slaves. Alive, slaves were among a white man’s most prized assets. Dead, they were considered virtually worthless. Life insurance changed that calculus, allowing slave owners to recoup three-quarters of a slave’s value in the event of an untimely death.”

– Culled from The New York Times –

In conclusion, if Black people in America were to be paid reparations for their suffering and enslavement, these corperations are to be called into account, as well as the government.