I often express frustration with my company, but I am often pleased to
see them do the right thing. Recently they pledged $1 million to the
tsunami relief and pledged to match an addional $2 million in employee and
customer funds. They have fundraisers everytime I turn around, are very
active with United Way and Habitat for Humanity. This morning, I recieved
this email in my mailbox. I am proud sometimes to work for this company
despite my vile complaints at other times.
Company Apologizes for
Slavery-Era Activities by Citizens Bank, Canal Bank January 20, 2005
Dear colleagues,
We recently completed extensive
research examining our company's history for any links to slavery to meet
a disclosure commitment to the City of Chicago and other municipalities.
Today, we are reporting to Chicago that our research has discovered new
information. Two predecessors -- Citizens Bank and Canal Bank in Louisiana
-- served as banks to plantations from the 1830s until the Civil War,
accepted enslaved individuals as collateral on loans, and sometimes took
ownership of them when the plantation owners defaulted on the loans.
Although all of us are well aware that slavery existed in the
United States, it is quite different to see how our history and the
institution of slavery were intertwined. We recognize this new information
may raise emotional issues for you, your families, neighbors and
customers.
Slavery was a brutal and unjust institution. We
apologize to the African-American community, particularly those who are
descendants of slaves, and to the rest of the American public for the role
that Citizens Bank and Canal Bank played. The slavery era was a tragic
time in U.S. history and in our company's history.
Today,
JPMorgan Chase is a very different company than the Citizens and Canal
Banks of the 1800s. We are committed to creating opportunities for African
Americans and to building communities through economic empowerment and
education, as well as workforce diversity. This commitment is demonstrated
in many ways, including our support of education from preschool to
college, from neighborhood programs to the UNCF. You can find more details
about our community and philanthropic activities at
http://www2.bankone.com/presents/jpmc_today/. We recognize there is more
work to be done, and you can be confident that we will continue to build
on our commitment.
Today, we are announcing an additional
philanthropic initiative that reflects our commitment to both acknowledge
the past and improve the future. The program, Smart Start Louisiana, will
mirror a similar initiative in New York City. The firm will provide an
initial $5 million over five years for full tuition, undergraduate
scholarships to African-American students from Louisiana to attend
colleges in their home state. Smart Start Louisiana will select scholars
based upon merit and need. In addition, the students will have the
opportunity to intern at the firm during the summer with the goal of being
hired upon graduation.
Additional Background Information
The information we are filing comes from a complex and
far-reaching search by History Associates Inc., a respected firm of
research historians that looked for records of slavery links to all our
predecessor banks, including banks in Kentucky, Louisiana and Virginia --
the only former slave states where predecessor banks existed during the
slavery era. They found information involving slavery only about Citizens
Bank and Canal Bank, which were founded in Louisiana in the 1830s. Like
other banks throughout the South at that time, the two banks accepted
slaves as collateral on plantation loans, and sometimes took ownership of
land, buildings, equipment and individuals upon default.
Our
Chicago filing will list specific Louisiana landowners as well as the
names of enslaved individuals, where the records reflect them. We estimate
that between 1831 and 1865, Citizens Bank and Canal Bank accepted
approximately 13,000 enslaved individuals as collateral and that the banks
came to own approximately 1,250 enslaved individuals as a result. We are
providing specific references about where we found the information to help
people research their family history.
Also, the filing will
report that other of our predecessor banks provided financing to banks --
including Canal Bank -- states, municipalities, companies and individuals
in the South during the slavery era, though we found no records of
connections to slavery. One hundred years later, in 1931, it appears that
New York-based Chase Bank led a group of investors that provided capital
to Canal Bank, and Chase Bank became a shareholder and took a controlling
management interest in Canal Bank. In 1933, however, Canal Bank failed and
was liquidated. In May 1933, The National Bank of Commerce in New Orleans
was formed under a federal charter, and its assets included some deposits
and loans of the old Canal Bank. Most of its capital was supplied by the
federal government, with the remainder coming from new shareholders. In
1998, Bank One purchased the New Orleans bank, then called First National
Bank of Commerce.
Please feel free to share this information
about our filing, our apology and our scholarship grant with your
families, neighbors or customers who may have questions. We also have
established an Internet Web site -- http://www.bankone.com/ourapology
-- for the public to learn about the historical facts and about the
company we are today.
Sincerely,
Bill
Harrison
Jamie Dimon
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