Illinois has made it easier for the descendants of slaves to trace their ancestry, a move that not only could help connect African Americans to their past, but could aid in the fight for reparations. Illinois has become the second state in the nation to require insurance companies to publicize policies they or their predecessor companies took out to compensate slave owners for death or harm to their slaves before the Civil War. California passed a similar law in 2000. Slaves remained valuable economic commodities into the Civil War years, and insurers began selling life insurance to compensate owners for the loss of their human property. [more
]- House Bill 2379, Slavery Era Policies, was passed
by the Illinois legislature in 2003 and signed into law by Governor Rod
Blagojevich on July 24, 2003. The law was effective January 1, 2004.
The law is located in the insurance code at 215 ILCS 5/155.39. [text of the act ]
- The Act required any insurer licensed and doing
business in Illinois to research and report to the Division of
Insurance information regarding policies issued to slaveholders for
death or damage to their slaves that the company wrote either directly
or through a predecessor corporation during the slavery era.
Information specifically required by the Act includes the names of the
slaves and the names of the slaveholders. The Division of Insurance is
required by the Act to make the names of any slaveholders or slaves
described in those insurance records available to the public and the
General Assembly.
- The Illinois Slavery Era Insurance Policies Registry [more ]
So Who's On the Slavery List?
- Aetna Life Insurance Company reported 24 slavery policies.
- New York Life Insurance Company (predecessor, Nautilus Insurance Company) reported 485 slavery policies.
- United States Life Insurance Company in New York City reported at least 174 slavery policies. [full report ]