Knowledge Tree
Lehman Brothers
Facts (47)
Sources
'The Lehman Trilogy' and Wall Street's Debt to Slavery reparationscomm.org Nov 10, 2021 26 facts
claimHistorians have demonstrated that the narrative that modern American capitalism was built on the collapse of the slave economy does not accurately describe the cotton economy of antebellum Alabama or the specific role of the Lehman brothers in that economy.
accountIn 1859, a newspaper in Troy, Alabama, reported that a sheriff sold an enslaved woman named Beckey and her child Gus to satisfy a 'fifa' (fieri facias) held by Lehman Brothers.
accountThe Park Avenue Armory declined to restore the author's original essay content regarding the Lehman brothers' connection to slavery when reusing the essay, citing length constraints as the reason.
accountLehman Brothers established themselves as cotton factors in the 1840s, a role that combined brokerage, financial and marketing advice, insurance, transportation, logistics, and the supply of enslaved laborers.
accountLehman Brothers transitioned from cotton factoring in the South to becoming a Northern finance powerhouse on Wall Street within two decades of the American Civil War.
claimThe post-Civil War pardons issued by President Andrew Johnson to white Southerners, including Lehman Brothers, were intended to restore the Union but effectively eased the economic cost of defeat for the white South.
claimThe U.S. House Judiciary Committee identified Lehman Brothers, Aetna Casualty Insurance, New York Life Insurance, Brooks Brothers, and J.P. Morgan Chase as companies that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade.
accountDuring the 2003 reparations lawsuit, Lehman Brothers admitted that the founding brothers purchased an enslaved person named Martha in the 1850s.
perspectiveThe author argues that the erasure of slavery from 'The Lehman Trilogy' distorts the history of the Lehman Brothers' beginnings in the antebellum South and allows the play to evade the moral question of whether making money out of money is more reprehensible than making money out of slaves.
claimLehman Brothers repackaged credit and debt to sell to other investors and borrowed against human collateral, profiting from both their personal ownership of slaves and the broader system of mortgaging human property.
accountIn 1864, the Governor of Mississippi sent a public note of thanks to Lehman Brothers for accepting Confederate Treasury notes and supplying the Confederate army with cotton and wool despite blockade restrictions.
accountIn a 2003 affidavit, Lehman Brothers provisionally acknowledged that the founding brothers may have personally owned other enslaved people, making the firm reportedly the first American bank to admit a role in institutional slavery.
claimThe U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade one year before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
claimThe conventional wisdom regarding the evolution of financial systems like Lehman Brothers has historically held that modern American capitalism was built on the collapse of the slave economy rather than on the slave economy itself.
claimSouthern merchants, including the Lehman Brothers, established the New York Cotton Exchange as the leading cotton futures market by 1875.
accountIn 2003, descendants of enslaved people sued Lehman Brothers and other firms, including R.J. Reynolds, for reparations.
perspectiveThe author contends that the Lehman brothers' involvement in slavery was commonplace for their time and place, but argues that this ordinariness makes it central to their history rather than marginal, challenging the narrative that the Lehman family's success was solely the result of immigrant hard work.
accountIn October 1861, the firm Lehman Brothers advertised in local papers that they had stockpiled essential goods during the American Civil War and required cash payments due to the economic conditions.
accountThe author of the essay about the Lehman brothers was commissioned by the National Theatre to write for the playbill of 'The Lehman Trilogy', but the author's original draft mentioning the brothers' connection to slavery was cut from the final edit.
claimThe author asserts that the Lehman brothers both purchased enslaved humans and traded in their enslavement.
accountIn October 1865, President Andrew Johnson issued a pardon to Lehman Brothers for their support of the Confederacy during the American Civil War.
perspectiveThe author argues that the story of Lehman Brothers illustrates the formation of modern American capitalism, specifically the process of leaving slavery behind while banking the profits generated from the slave economy.
perspectiveThe author of the article argues that The Lehman Trilogy is a "deeply partial" theatrical experience because it underplays the Lehman brothers' deep entanglement in the slave economy, including the fact that the brothers held slaves for at least twenty years.
measurementLehman Brothers secured a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1887.
claimThe 2008 collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers is frequently treated as an allegory for the history of American capitalism, often framed as a rags-to-riches narrative of immigrant success followed by a moral decline into speculative wealth.
accountDuring the American Civil War, Lehman Brothers ran blockades and provided credit to the Confederacy, including supplying cotton and wool for uniforms.
'The Lehman Trilogy' and Wall Street's Debt to Slavery nybooks.com Jun 11, 2019 20 facts
accountThe Lehman Brothers business evolved from a dry-goods store into a brokerage and eventually into a bank, with brothers Mendel (Emanuel) and Mayer joining Henry Lehman in the enterprise.
perspectiveThe author argues that the story of Lehman Brothers illustrates how the South's investment in the cotton economy and the slave economy's legacy of white wealth and black impoverishment profoundly shaped American history from the antebellum period onward.
perspectiveThe author argues that the Lehman brothers' embroilment in slavery was commonplace in their time and place, making it problematic to suggest that slavery was marginal to their business history.
perspectiveFailing to combat or censure slavery is distinct from the act of purchasing enslaved humans or trading in their enslavement, both of which the Lehman brothers performed.
accountOne year before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the House Judiciary Committee conducted a hearing on the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade.
claimThe House Judiciary Committee identified Lehman Brothers, Aetna Casualty Insurance, New York Life Insurance, Brooks Brothers, and J.P. Morgan Chase as historic companies that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade.
perspectiveThe play 'The Lehman Trilogy' is criticized for being a deeply partial narrative because it underplays the Lehman brothers' deep entanglement in the slave economy.
claimThe Trump administration implemented immigration policies, such as building walls, which contrast with the historical narrative of the Lehman brothers as immigrants who thrived in the United States.
accountThe Lehman brothers' firm accepted profits from slaves traded as chattel to satisfy debts, as evidenced by an 1859 report in a Troy, Alabama, newspaper regarding a sheriff selling a woman named Beckey and her child Gus to satisfy a fieri facias (fifa) in favor of Lehman Brothers.
claimThe Lehman brothers purchased enslaved humans and traded in their enslavement.
perspectiveThe New York Times criticized 'The Lehman Trilogy' for omitting that the original Lehman Brothers fortune was made using slave labor, arguing that this omission suggests the real evildoers were the later Wall Street figures rather than the original founders.
claimThe author asserts that the Lehman brothers' business was deeply integrated into the institutionalized slave economy, extending beyond direct slave ownership to include profiting from enslaved labor and the sale of cotton produced by enslaved people.
claimThe Lehman brothers held slaves for at least twenty years while operating in the cotton markets of the antebellum South.
claimThe National Theatre's version of the play 'The Lehman Trilogy' omits the history of slavery in the beginnings of the Lehman Brothers firm in the antebellum South.
accountHenry Lehman died in 1855, and during the American Civil War, the two surviving Lehman brothers supported the Confederacy.
claimThe Lehman brothers' business evolved from a dry-goods store into a brokerage firm and eventually into a bank.
perspectiveThe author argues that the play 'The Lehman Trilogy' incorrectly marginalizes the role of slavery in the Lehman brothers' history, failing to acknowledge that slavery was an embedded, ordinary part of their business success.
perspectiveRichard Cohen argues that omitting the history of the Lehman brothers as slave-owners in 'The Lehman Trilogy' is comparable to writing a play about Germany in 1933 without mentioning the treatment of Jews.
claimThe author observes that slave schedules reflect a society that systematically stripped identity from enslaved Americans while simultaneously granting free citizen status to immigrants like the Lehman brothers.
claimThe 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers is frequently interpreted as an allegory for the history of American capitalism, representing a transition from selling tangible goods to selling speculative financial abstractions.
Actar Publishers actar.com 1 fact
referenceThe book 'AGENDA' by JDS Architects documents the work and thinking of the firm over a one-year period beginning on September 15, 2008, the day Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.