Three years after the murder of George Floyd sparked a racial reckoning in America, slavery and its legacy remain at the heart of a national conversation – about classroom lessons, Confederate monuments, and whether the government owes reparations to descendants of the enslaved. But what of the descendants of enslavers? How should they reckon with this past?
In a groundbreaking series two years in the making, Reuters reframed the issue, revealing for the first time the familial connections between long-ago slaveholders and today’s political elite – the people who legislate, rule and shape opinion on matters of race. Our team pioneered, in unprecedented scale and scope, the use of genealogy as a reporting tool in U.S. journalism. The result: the multipart series “Slavery’s Descendants,” which exposed the sorts of connections few politicians wish to advertise.
Our series is unique. Although scholars and journalists have extensively examined slavery and its legacy – including slavery’s role in decisions of 18th Century leaders during the formation of the country and after emancipation – our work focuses on contemporary leaders, exploring how their own family’s part in America’s “original sin” may affect their views and policy on race today.
We found that a fifth of the nation’s federal lawmakers, living presidents, Supreme Court justices and governors are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people.
That was just the start. Through sophisticated financial reporting that included unearthing and analyzing probate records, lawsuits, bankruptcy filings and other documents, the series tells the story of slavery and its living legacy, identifying ancestors of present-day leaders to illuminate here-and-now issues such as wealth inequality and inherited advantage. We also featured the stirring personal stories of two of our own journalists, Tom Lasseter and Donna Bryson. Their pieces, reported as deeply as the rest of the project, capture the ache that comes with facing the racial realities of yesterday and today. And we conducted original national polling to illuminate how voters would view such connections.
We were impressed with the ambition and scope of this project. Through first-person narratives, archival visuals and interactive graphics, the package revealed that one fifth of the country’s highest-ranking leaders — presidents, congressmen, Supreme Court justices and governors — are descended from ancestors who enslaved Black people. This seven-part project examines the multigenerational legacy of slavery, power and privilege and how these forces continue to shape Americans’ lives today.
