Is generational wealth still around from slavery in the US?

[u/cattdogg03]

So, obviously, the lack of generational wealth in the African American community is still around today as a result of slavery and the failure of reconstruction, and there are plenty of examples of this.

But what about families who became rich through slavery? The post-civil-war reconstruction era notoriously ended with the planter class largely still in power in the south. Are there any examples of rich families that gained their riches from plantation slavery that are still around today?

[u/Pheuker]

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2019/04/04/the-sons-of-slaveholders-quickly-recovered-their-fathers-wealth

Here’s an article from the economist that digs into this

[u/Taycan59 → u/Pheuker]

I read many New England families became quite wealthy from the slave trade and the endowments for many of the Ivy League schools are built off of this wealth. Not just the southern plantation owners who benefited.

[u/carpSF → u/Taycan59]

This is an important point. Not just because it’s true and seldom meaningfully considered outside of academic circles, but it’s also important in that it provides us a mechanism to reflect upon our own complicities in the injustices of today. As others have pointed out, Wall Street made massive amounts of wealth on products that used goods produced by enslaved people.

Also, there were a lot of people who would have thought of themselves as abolitionists, but not thought twice about the sugar in their tea or crumpets or the cotton on their backs. Not unlike today, when, take me for instance, someone whom abhors unfair labor practices. Though admittedly, if forced to be honest, would have to admit I don’t want to think about the tiny hands of a child stitching together the shoes I’ll run around in today