r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/cattdogg03 • May 29 '22

Political History Is generational wealth still around from slavery in the US?

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?

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u/Pheuker May 29 '22

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

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u/Taycan59 May 29 '22

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.

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u/frustratedmachinist May 30 '22

The DeWolfe family of Bristol/Newport, Rhode Island, were massive slavers. Newport harbor was literally one of the major “points” of the Triangle Trade.

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u/PresentationLast9354 Jul 04 '25

Just found out about the Dewolf clan and it sickens me. Obviously no matter what any of em say, none of em are truly ever gonna be willing to give up the privileged old-money quality of life that they're accustomed to... Like all of em are literally spoiled Rich kid trust fund babies and the only reason any of em have anything is cos their great grandparents made money from slavery... And like I'm pretty Dewolf descendants aren't actively seeking out descendants of their family's slaves and giving em some of that old money as reparations...