JPMorgan Chase & Co. apologizes for predecessor banks acceptance of slaves as collateral

Jet, Feb 7, 2005

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the first company to acknowledge that two of its predecessor banks had links to the slave trade. The filing complied with a Chicago ordinance requiring such disclosures.

The New York-based bank, the nation's second largest, apologized in a statement and admitted two Louisiana banks had received thousands of slaves as collateral before the Civil War.

To make amends, JPMorgan said that it was setting up a program called Smart Start Louisiana. The bank will provide $5 million over five years for full tuition undergraduate scholarships for Black students from Louisiana to attend college in their home state.

JPMorgan officials said the bank undertook the study after Chicago passed an ordinance in 2002 requiring companies that do business with the city to research their history to determine any links to slavery.

Ald. Dorothy Tillman of Chicago proposed the ordinance, which passed unanimously in 2002. Chicago made history as the first city to pass a slavery-era disclosure ordinance (JET, Oct. 21, 2002).

Recognized as a crusader for slave reparations, Tillman told JET of JPMorgan's filing: "We feel vindicated ... We are not considering this a victory. This is just a beginning of where we have to go. Now our people understand and know that we can get reparations."

JPMorgan's disclosure was outlined in a letter to the bank's employees signed by William B. Harrison Jr., the bank's chairman and chief executive, and James Dimon, the president and chief operating officer.

The bank said that historical researchers had found that two now-defunct predecessor banks-Citizen Bank and Canal Bank, both based in Louisiana-served as banks to plantations from the 1830s until the Civil War.

"Collateral" for mortgages and other loans "included land, equipment and/or enslaved individuals," the statement said.

The bank estimated that the two banks "accepted approximately 13,000 slaved individuals as collateral and that the banks came to own approximately 1,250 slaved individuals as a result" of defaults.

Commenting on the scholarship fund, Tillman said, "We're not pleased with just that. We are in discussion. We want to set up a national education fund"

In 2001, Tillman hosted the first National Reparations Convention in Chicago (JET, Feb. 26, 2001). The next will be held on March 25-26 in Chicago.