An Enduring Legacy: The Role of Financial Institutions in the Horrors of Slavery... (EventID=115227)

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Connect with the House Financial Services Committee Get the latest news: https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HouseFinanci... Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FSCDems ___________________________________ On Wednesday, December 7, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Green and Ranking Member Emmer will host a hybrid hearing entitled, “An Enduring Legacy: The Role of Financial Institutions in the Horrors of Slavery and the Need for Atonement, Part Two." ___________________________________ Witnesses for this one-panel hearing will be: • William A. Darity, Jr., Professor of Public Policy, Duke University • Dania V. Francis, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston • Lily Roberts, Managing Director, Poverty to Prosperity, Center for American Progress • Seth Rockman, Associate Professor of History, Brown University • Sarah Federman, Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution, University of San Diego ___________________________________ Overview On April 5, 2022, Representative Al Green, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Committee on Financial Services (the “Subcommittee”), held a hearing entitled, “An Enduring Legacy: The Role of Financial Institutions in the Horrors of Slavery and the Need for Atonement.” In this hearing, a panel of academics and professionals provided details on the history of financial institutions’ involvement in slavery and the lasting impacts of this involvement on the U.S. economy and financial system. On June 7, 2022, Chairwoman Waters and Subcommittee Chairman Green, along with other Members of the Subcommittee, sent an inquiry to ten of the largest banks and ten of the largest insurance and insurance holding companies in the U.S. The inquiry requested information pertaining to each institution and its predecessors’ involvement in chattel slavery and related businesses prior to December 6, 1865, when the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified and slavery was abolished in the U.S. The letter also inquired whether and to what extent each entity had conducted a review of this history. The letter is included as Appendix A of this memo. The goal of the letter was to investigate the extent to which the banking and insurance industries benefited from and contributed to the generations of unpaid labor in the U.S. economy, and to explore steps that have been taken, or should be taken, to atone for such involvement. The responses that the Committee received to this letter showed that only a few of the financial institutions included in the inquiry have conducted a review of their historic involvement in slavery, and that those that have done so, only did so to comply with the City of Chicago’s Business, Corporate and Slavery Era Insurance Ordinance (the “Chicago Ordinance”) or other similar state and local laws. Only two firms have provided forms of remediation directly connected to their historical involvement with slavery. This memo includes a detailed summary of the responses that the Committee received. Background on Financial Institutions’ Involvement in Slavery The witnesses at the June 2022 Subcommittee hearing testified regarding the history of enslaved people as financial investments. For centuries, the term “chattel” was generally used to describe enslaved people, categorizing them as a uniquely valuable form of property that was essential to the industries that drove the U.S. and the world economy. The value of enslaved people was calculated by financial institutions from birth to death, including for the purposes of obtaining insurance policies on their lives as well as for collateral on loans. As a result, the economic value of slavery spread beyond plantations and agriculture to banking, finance, and insurance, among other connected industries. Moreover, financial institutions not only benefited from slavery, but were critical in perpetuating it in the form of providing capital and access to financial markets. The pervasive nature of the financial instruments associated with slavery and the corresponding economic impacts make it difficult to accurately estimate the overall monetary value of slavery, not only in terms of forced labor at the time, but also the immediate and lasting benefits experienced by businesses across sectors and industries. After slavery was abolished in 1865, the effects of this history, and the systemic racism and oppression that followed, continued to permeate the overall economy and the economic opportunities of Black people. The racial wealth gap is a primary example of the persistence of economic inequality that can be traced directly to slavery. Current data show how racial economic inequality extends to home ownership, financial assets, and educational opportunities to... Hearing page: https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/events/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=409969