The Lasting Economic Effects of Slavery

Nicholas Brown has written the latest piece in a fascinating Reuters series documenting how the effects of slavery remain with us today. Brown's article, entitled "American Dreams," follows two families over 150 years. One family is the descendants of enslavers, and the other is the descendants of those who they enslaved. It is a case study of how slavery, the Jim Crow era, and racial discrimination put the two families on very different economic paths. It brings home the lingering effects of these shameful parts of U.S. history in ways that aggregate statistics about wealth disparity often do not. Credit Slips readers will be particularly interested in how bankruptcy helped the white family (and not because I am quoted there). We say that our blog's mission is to discuss credit, finance, and bankruptcy issues, and if you are here, you likely have those interests as well. I strongly recommend Brown's article.