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August 19, 2004
Illinois web site posts insurance information on slaves
As part of a broad new effort to help African-Americans research their genealogy, Illinois has passed new laws to encourage insurance companies to publish records for policies on slaves. Illinois is the second state, behind California, to require insurance companies to report data on slave coverage. This is a large step forward for genealogists that believe that this new found knowledge could fill in the blanks about the early slave experience in the United States.
The list speaks of people as property, and gives a sense of what times were like in the slave trade days. Each policy representing an individual, a life. This list reminds us that we are not a perfect nation; just a nation working to make it better.
The full list is available at the Web site of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, at www.ins.state.il.us/Consumer/SlaveryReporting.nsf.
Posted by Tom Troceen