Reality-Based Engineering

From WSJ: JP Morgan Predecessor Took Slaves As Collateral

This is a rehash from a wsj article from May 10, 2005 (link from the Post-Gazette of Pittsburgh, PA - go figure). I just pulled the copy of the wsj front page that I stole from work out of by bag when I was looking for my checkbook today. And others have blogged on the subject already. Anyway...

The article, written by Robin Sidel (and Robin, forgive me if I paraphrase throughout - it's already late tonite), describes the story of one James Lide, historian, who as part of a Chicago city ordinance ordering due diligence regarding recovering the history of corporate America and slavery. In this case, in the town of Covington, LA, it was found:

" After 3,500 hours of research, he confirmed what his client didn't want to hear: between 1834 and 1861, Citizens [Bank] had secured loans with mortgages on land - and thousands of slaves"

The reason the city of Chicago gets involved in all this historical morass (and by that I mean the amount of effort to uncover this seedy part of American history) is that Bank One, an entity which JP Morgan Chase acquired in 2003, had financed a bond for the city, which forced it to follow a city ordinance called the Business, Corporate and Slavery Era Insurance Ordinance (Mun. Code of Chi. § 292-585, passed in 2002). It requires that companies doing business with the city disclose *any* ties to slavery. According to the article, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philly and the state of North Carolina have all enacted similar legislation.

The point of this post is not to highlight the fact that companies actively participated in slavery; by this point it should be readily apparent, especially to those that have read A Peoples' Hostory Of The United States by Howard Zinn. The point is that this should serve as a strong example of why cities and municipalities SHOULD enact legislation that the feds and the states don't want to touch - it serves a great purpose, at the very least, to show defiance (like the cities and towns that are passing anti-Patriot Act legislation) and in this case be able to force big & long-in-the-tooth corporations to face their own realities (and our own), that they are part-and-parcel of the economy under the rules that exist at any given time. And in Antebellum America (which Dominion Christians strangely have a fond rememberance of), that meant that Citizens Bank of Louisiana used people as collateral for loans, some of which defaulted - meaning the bank owned people - thousands at any given time.

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Update 6/2/2005: Wachovia Bank has fulfilled its obligations under this same ordinance (source: CNN):

"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. "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 -- owned slaves, Wachovia said in the statement.

Records revealed that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company owned at least 162 slaves, Wachovia said, 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.

So, things are moving in the right direction I think.
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posted by jimboses @ 9:53 PM