In 1855, when Stephen Duncan, the largest enslaver in the United States, reaped a windfall from his cotton plantations across Mississippi, he tasked his banker to ship the crops North, to sell the cotton for cash, and to invest the proceeds into Northern corporate stocks, plucking up prized Manhattan real estate on the side. He had made such investments for almost 30 years.
The wealth that many corporations and banks enjoy today is directly derived from this stolen wealth. As such, corporations, including many of our nation's leading banks, have a critical obligation not only to acknowledge this history--something most have not done—but to outline meaningful ways to address these wounds through reparations to Black Americans.
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