So Now What??

WACHOVIA COMPLETES RESEARCH......
Earlier this year, Wachovia contracted with The History Factory, a leading historical research firm, to conduct research on the predecessor institutions that, over many years, formed our company.

The resulting research revealed that two of our predecessor institutions, the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company and the Bank of Charleston, owned slaves.
Due to incomplete records, we cannot determine precisely how many slaves either the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company or the Bank of Charleston owned.

Through specific transactional records, researchers determined that the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company owned at least 162 slaves, and the Bank of Charleston accepted at least 529 slaves as collateral on mortgaged properties or loans, and acquired an undetermined number of these individuals when customers defaulted on their loans.

We are deeply saddened by these findings. We apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans and people of African descent.

While we can in no way atone for the past, we can learn from it, and we can continue to promote a better understanding of the African-American story, including the unique struggles, triumphs and contributions of African-Americans, and their important role in America’s past and present.

In this vein, Wachovia plans to partner with community organizations that are experts in furthering awareness and education of African-American history. Our aspiration is to preserve the African-American story and ensure that this important piece of our country’s history is incorporated in educational forums. This is a natural fit with our company’s strong focus on diversity, education and communities.
http://www.wachovia.com/misc/0,,877,00.html?DCMP=ILL-2433&ATTINFO=7759-personal1

Wachovia can do more To atone for profit on slavery, invest in future of race that was wronged
Posted on Mon, Jun. 13, 2005
As an African American devoted to increasing access to capital and credit to underserved communities of color, I want to respond to Wachovia's announcement regarding the role of its predecessor banks in slavery.

Wachovia conducted an exhaustive and sobering study of its history. Wachovia not only looked at its predecessor institutions that owned slaves, but also at those institutions that profited indirectly from slavery. We must not forget that America, North and South, profited and prospered directly or indirectly from slavery. According to its press release, two banks acquired by Wachovia the Bank of Charleston and the Georgia Railroad and Banking Co., directly owned slaves. A third bank, the Bank of North America (PA), was capitalized by slave traders and human traffickers.

According to the study, 529 slaves were held as collateral on 24 mortgage loans held by the Bank of Charleston. The study lists some of them by name. Julia, Mary and Sam were sold for $45. Celia, Maria, Susan and Eliza sold for $1,000. "Certain Negroes in Texas known as Lavinia and her family" were used to secure a mortgage on a plantation on Hilton Head Island.

The record shows that at least four slaves died during the construction of the railroad between Augusta and Atlanta. But don't fret for Georgia Railroad and Banking Co., "inasmuch as the negroes have increased in value as they were owned by the company, the value of the four that have died should not be carried to profit & loss."
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/11881111.htm

Shaking down Wachovia
June 15, 2005
The slavery-reparations crowd is serious about raiding corporate America. That's the lesson to draw from what's happening to Wachovia Corp., the nation's fourth-largest bank, which says that predecessors to two companies it acquired in 1991 and 2001 once traded in slaves. It doesn't take a historian to see that Wachovia is being mau-maued.
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050614-082458-1824r.htm



Africa And Aboriginal Tuesdays: JP Morgan's Apology, Research And Response For Its Historical Ties To Slavery
Recently, JPMorgan Chase completed extensive research examining our company's history for any links to slavery to meet a commitment to the city of Chicago. Today, we are reporting that this research found that between 1831 and 1865 two of our predecessor banks - Citizens Bank and Canal Bank in Louisiana - accepted approximately 13,000 enslaved individuals as collateral on loans and took ownership of approximately 1,250 of them when the plantation owners defaulted on the loans.

We all know slavery existed in our country, but it is quite different to see how our history and the institution of slavery were intertwined. Slavery was tragically ingrained in American society, but that is no excuse.

We apologize to the American public, and particularly to African-Americans, for the role that Citizens Bank and Canal Bank played during that period.

Although we cannot change the past, we are committed to learning from and emerging stronger because of it. Since these events took place in Louisiana, we are establishing a $5 million college scholarship program for students living in Louisiana.
http://www.blackelectorate.com/articles.asp?ID=1295

The slavery shakedown
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist June 9, 2005
AS SOON as he learned the ugly truth, the chairman of financial-services giant Wachovia Corp. issued a remorseful nostra culpa. ''We are deeply saddened by these findings," Ken Thompson said last week. ''I apologize to all Americans, and especially to African-Americans." Wachovia acknowledged that it ''cannot change the past or atone for the harm that was done." But it promised to make amends by subsidizing the work of organizations involved in ''furthering awareness and education of African-American history."

America long ago paid the price for slavery: a horrific Civil War that killed 620,000 soldiers, more than half of them from the North. It is as vile to insist that white Americans today owe a debt for slavery as it would be to insist that black Americans owe a debt for freedom. What the reparations extremists are demanding would make a mockery of historical truth and inflame racial strife. Their cynicism is toxic, and corporate America had better find the courage to say so.
Jeff Jacoby's e-mail address is jacoby@globe.com
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/06/09/the_slavery_shakedown/

Worrill: Firms’ Apologies a Result of Pressure by Reparations Activists
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2005By: Michael H. Cottman
A prominent leader of the reparations movement for black Americans contends that some of the nation’s major banks are now offering apologies for their association with slavery because of persistent pressure by civil rights activists.
http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/worrill615




Fair lending is Goode's 'reparations' goal
By MARK McDONALD mailto:McDONALDmcdonam@phillynews.com

Last week, City Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. introduced a bill that in one fell swoop pulled together a volatile mixture of banks that hold city deposits, their past profits from slavery and future reparations.

But when he's talking reparations, it's not exactly for the sins of an evil institution that led to a bloody Civil War. Rather, Goode wants to change current bank practices that starve small minority business and consumers of capital.
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/11881363.htm