The Debt Unpaid: How Enslaved Africans Created American Prosperity
The Debt Unpaid: How Enslaved Africans Created American Prosperity
Introduction: The Cost of Cotton and Lives
The day would begin with the sun still a faint glow on the horizon. Charles Ball, like millions of enslaved people before him, bent over the cotton fields, his fingers raw, the stalks sharp and unyielding in his grasp. His autobiography, written in 1837, speaks of unrelenting toil, dawn to dusk, year after year. “My master never failed to send me to the field in the morning,” Ball recounted, “and I was always made to work until night.”
By 1860, Ball and those like him represented a staggering sum of human capital: enslaved individuals, valued collectively at more than $3 billion—more than the combined value of every railroad, factory, and bank in the United States. To put this in modern terms, each enslaved person was worth between $50,000 and $60,000. This wasn’t just economic exploitation; it was a national system of wealth extraction. Enslaved labor didn’t merely build individual fortunes; it fueled America’s rise to a global economic power.
A Down Payment on Future Prosperity: The Unseen Legacy of Slavery’s Wealth
The wealth generated by Charles Ball’s labor, and that of millions of others, didn’t vanish when slavery ended in 1865. It was passed down through generations, feeding into the financial systems, infrastructure, and industrial might that would define America for centuries. From the grand plantations of the South to the textile mills of New England, the profits of slavery flowed freely through the arteries of the national economy.
The financial institutions of the North were deeply enmeshed in this system. Banks extended credit to Southern plantation owners, using enslaved people as collateral, while insurance companies—many of which still exist today—sold policies to protect these “assets.” This wasn’t limited to Southern wealth. Northern banks, insurance companies, and railroads all drew profits from this system of human bondage, creating an interconnected financial web that spanned the entire country.
Yet, for all the wealth created, the descendants of enslaved people saw none of it. Instead, they inherited a system that systematically excluded them from the prosperity their ancestors built. The racial wealth gap today, where White households possess roughly 8 to 10 times the wealth of Black households, is a direct legacy of this economic injustice.
Building the Backbone of the American Economy
In 1825, the Erie Canal opened, connecting the agricultural Midwest to Eastern markets. The canal was hailed as a marvel of American ingenuity and industry. But the wealth that financed it had a darker origin: the cotton fields of the South. The same cotton that Charles Ball harvested provided the capital to build America’s infrastructure. Northern bankers, textile mill owners, and Southern plantation owners were all part of the same system, profiting from the labor of enslaved people.
The cotton trade, which accounted for 75-80% of the world’s cotton supply, didn’t just create fortunes for Southern landowners. It fueled Northern industrial growth, helping build railroads, fund factories, and expand ports. The Illinois Central Railroad, crucial for westward expansion, was funded in part by profits from cotton. Railroads connected Southern agriculture with Northern industry, creating a national economy built on human suffering.
Cotton, Railroads, and the Growth of Industry
By the mid-19th century, America was rising as a global economic power, largely due to its dominance in the cotton trade. Northern textile mills spun Southern cotton into fabric, feeding a global demand for textiles. Towns like Lowell, Massachusetts, became synonymous with industrial growth, while Southern plantations became synonymous with human exploitation.
The railroads, too, owed their expansion to the wealth generated by slavery. The Illinois Central Railroad, one of the most important railways for westward expansion, was financed by cotton profits. These railroads weren’t just moving goods—they were moving the profits of human bondage across the country.
The Making of an Economic Colossus
Even after slavery was abolished, the wealth generated from the forced labor of millions continued to shape America’s economy. The New York Stock Exchange, which began trading during this period, became a hub for investments linked to Southern plantations. Northern industries, from railroads to factories to banks, thrived on the capital generated by enslaved labor.
But when slavery ended, the wealth it had generated didn’t disappear. Instead, it continued to flow into the coffers of plantation owners, Northern financiers, and industrialists, while the newly freed African Americans were left to fend for themselves in a hostile world. Jim Crow laws, segregation, and redlining ensured that Black Americans were systematically shut out from the wealth they had helped create.
A Haunting Legacy: From Slavery to Modern-Day Exploitation
In Louisiana’s Angola Prison, built on the grounds of a former plantation, echoes of slavery still reverberate. Incarcerated men—most of them Black—work the same fields their ancestors did, harvesting crops under the watchful eyes of guards on horseback.
Wilbert Rideau, who spent decades at Angola, described the conditions as “modern-day slavery.” “We worked the fields, planted the crops, and harvested them just as slaves had done for centuries before us,” he recalled. An Associated Press investigation revealed that major corporations like McDonald’s and Walmart continue to profit from prison labor, feeding goods produced by incarcerated people into their supply chains.
The Unsettled Ledger
The debt America owes to its enslaved ancestors remains unpaid. The wealth that enslaved people generated—the wealth that built the nation’s infrastructure and fueled its economy—was never returned to their descendants. Today, the average White household holds 8 to 10 times the wealth of the average Black household, a disparity that can be traced back to the economic system built on slavery.
As we look back at the history of slavery in America, we must also look forward, acknowledging that this debt is not just historical—it’s ongoing. The wealth gap, the prison labor system, the systemic racism embedded in our institutions are all legacies of that unpaid debt.
Conclusion: Settling the Debt
Ken Burns once said, “History, for me, is always about storytelling, and it’s always about how the past informs the future.” The story of slavery is not just a chapter in America’s past—it is a narrative thread that weaves through our present, informing the racial and economic inequalities that persist today.
To truly address this debt, we must first acknowledge its existence. The wealth and power that America enjoys today were built on the backs of enslaved people like Charles Ball. And while we cannot change the past, we can work toward justice in the present by addressing the systemic inequalities that continue to harm Black Americans today.
