One of the largest life insurance companies in the United States has admitted that its predecessor company insures the lives of slaves to their owners.
In 2001, New York Life provided the New York Public Library with its records containing insurance policies sold to slave owners.
"Our predecessor, Nautilus Insurance Company, sold policies on the lives of slaves between 1846 and 1848," the company said on its website. "We have been open and transparent about this brief and regrettable period in our history, with the sale by Nautilus of policies of slaves covered in reports and books dating back to 1895."
Nautilus has insured more than 500 people "identified as slaves or from registers that were probably enslaved" and has paid claims for 15 of those who died, according to New York Life.
"We have made it clear by our words and actions for many years that the involvement of our predecessor society in the fight against slavery is a stain in our history that we can never forget. We are committed to fostering a better understanding of slavery in America and supporting the black community, "New York Life said on its website.
A company spokesperson told CNN that while New York Life cannot change its history, its long-standing recognition of that history has helped shape its commitment to the black community.
Yale University
Amid protests against racial injustice across the country, the hashtag #CancelYale began to prove its worth in June. It started with a newsletter on 4chan - the online bulletin board that frequently features extremist content - according to the Yale Daily News. It then gained momentum after Jesse Kelly, host of the national show "I'm Right with Jesse Kelly," tweeted that Yale University was named after slave trader Elihu Yale. .
"Calling @Yale to change their name immediately and remove Yale's name from every building, piece of paper and merchandise. Otherwise, they hate black people. #CancelYale," Kelly's tweet read.
While the motivation behind the hashtag may have been to chase the Liberals and nullify the culture, there is some truth behind the namesake of Yale. Elihu Yale was a slave trader who benefited from the sale of human lives. The school president told the Yale Daily News in June that there were no plans to change the name of the school.
Yale also launched the Yale Slavery and Abolition portal to help researchers and students "find primary sources related to slavery, abolition and resistance."
Yale University declined CNN's requests for comment.
Yale also addressed a building named after a leader who supported slavery. In 2017, after months of protests on campus, the school changed the name of one of its undergraduate residential colleges to Grace Hopper College at Calhoun College, named after John C. Calhoun, a white supremacist who called slavery a "positive good".
Many American universities also have ties to slavery. Harvard and Princeton had presidents who owned slaves. At public universities like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia, slaves worked on campus or helped build campuses. Some schools, like Georgetown University, sold slaves to pay off debts and run the school.
CSX Transport
CSX Transportation owns a railroad built by slaves.
The Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad in Virginia - acquired by CSX in 2003 - owned and hired enslaved blacks from 1834, when it was chartered, until the end of the Civil War in 1865, according to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
"The company shares the nation's deep remorse for the shameful institution of slavery and racial discrimination that has occurred in the country," CSX spokesperson Cindy Schild told CNN. "CSX opposes all forms of discrimination and is committed to raising awareness of racial disparities."
Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
It's true, even alcohol is linked to slavery.
Although Jack Daniel never owned slaves, he learned how to make whiskey in Tennessee from a slave named Nathan "Nearest" Green, who belonged to a Lutheran minister, according to the company.
Daniel bought the business from the minister, then hired Green as his first chief distiller.
The New York Times highlighted Green's story in 2016. Since then, Uncle Nearest, a new brand of whiskey honoring Green, has emerged. Whiskey is "a business entirely run by minorities," according to its website.
Svend Jansen, a spokesperson for Jack Daniel, told CNN that the company "has known and been public about the special relationship between Jack Daniel and Nearest Green for many years and this is a common story in Lynchburg, Tennessee" . Several of Green's children and grandchildren ended up working for Jack Daniel's Whiskey, Jansen said.
Jack Daniel's installed a Nearest Green exhibit in its visitor center in March 2018, Jansen said.
"We continue to think about other ways to honor the story of Nearest," he said.
Wall Street
Before Wall Street became the world's largest stock exchange, the location flourished as a slave market between 1711 and 1762, according to a digital library, JSTOR Daily.
In 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio commemorated a marker for the enslaved people who laid the foundation for Wall Street.
"This place reminds us of one of the worst chapters in our history," said de Blasio at the time. "Three hundred and four years ago, with the approval of the city government, it became a place of buying, selling and renting human beings."
New York's First Lady Chirlane McCray said slavery built the foundations of the city and its slave market was rivaled only by the market in Charleston, South Carolina.
"You can come here any day and watch it happen and somehow it was considered normal in this city. It continued elsewhere in the city for almost 80 years of more, "said de Blasio.
The White House and the US Capitol Building
Former First Lady Michelle Obama caused a stir in 2016 when she said slaves built the White House. She was not wrong.
Construction on the original White House began in 1792. Officials planned to import workers from Europe to help build the structure, but recruiting did not go as planned, so they turned to black people. , free and enslaved, according to the White House Historical Association.
The US Capitol Building was also built with the labor of enslaved people. Construction began on the building in 1793. Like the White House, officials struggled to find skilled workers and therefore turned to slaves, who were often rented from the owners. Congress unveiled a marker in 2012 in honor of the slaves who built the Capitol, according to the Capitol architect.
"So when you see that slave labor has been used on Capitol Hill and in the White House, it's not just the personal relationship between the founders and slavery, it's a national issue. and institutional that the government itself was involved in slavery, "said Adam Rothman, a history professor at Georgetown University specializing in slavery.
After Obama's comments in 2016, the White House Historical Society began to actively research slavery and its relationship with U.S. presidents and the White House, said Matthew Costello, senior historian for the historical society.
The research resulted in the website "Slavery in the Presidential Quarter", which was launched in February.
"We need to give these people their voice back. Historically speaking, people care about presidents and first ladies, but what about behind those closed doors? Who are the people who really make the White House work and operate? ? " Costello told CNN.
George Washington
While George Washington's ties to slavery are fairly well known, the extent of these ties may surprise some.
Slaves were part of Washington - literally.
Although folklore portrays Washington with wooden teeth, there is no evidence to support this claim, according to historian Alexis Coe, who wrote the best-selling biography "You will never forget your first: a biography of George Washington. "
The first president's mouth, Coe said, was full of walrus, hippo and enslaved teeth. Washington paid the slaves a below-market rate for their teeth, Coe said.
Coe said Washington also signed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, which allowed slaves to arrest enslaved people on the run and recover them as property.
"The propensity to put Washington on a pedestal does us a disservice," said Coe. "It takes us away from the man himself, for it is a dishonest reading of his life."
