Slavery’s Legacy Can Be Seen in the Wealth of U.S. Representatives

In a first-of-its-kind analysis, researchers revealed that members of the United States Congress whose ancestors owned slaves are far wealthier than members without slaveholding ancestors. The study, published last week to the journal PLoS ONE, is yet another reminder that the legacy of America’s original sin still haunts us today.

Neil K.R. Sehgal, a second year Computer Science PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on using computational techniques to elucidate issues of bias and health equity, carried out the research with his father, Dr. Ashwini Sehgal, a bioethics professor at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine.

Together, the duo calculated the net worth of all members of Congress as of April 15, 2021 using publicly-available financial declarations. Members’ median net worth tallied at $1.28 million.

Both combined this net worth data with the findings of a rigorous effort to uncover the slaveholder ancestry of prominent American politicians. In 2023, with the help of genealogy researchers at Brigham Young University, Reuters journalists pored through the family histories of more than 600 of the country’s leading officeholders, revealing the number of slaves their ancestors owned since 1776. In total, 28 senators and 72 representatives had historical family members who owned other human beings.

Sehgal and Sehgal found that these politicians were far better off financially than their peers whose ancestors didn’t own slaves.

“Legislators whose ancestors enslaved 16 or more individuals had $3.93 million higher net worth compared to legislators whose ancestors were not slave owners after adjustment for age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education,” the researchers reported.

Members of Congress without a family history of slaveholding had a median net worth of $1.11 million. Members whose ancestors owned one to five slaves controlled median wealth of $2.59 million. Members whose ancestors owned six to fifteen were a tad more flush at $2.87 million in assets. Members with sixteen or more slaves in their familial past cached a median hoard of $5.62 million.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican representing Louisiana’s 4th congressional district, is one of the congresspersons with a slaveholding legacy. His ancestral family members owned fourteen individuals. However, Johnson’s comparatively meager net worth of $63,000 flouts the trend found in the study. 

On the other hand, Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, with twelve slaves in his generational history, fits right in with at least $35 million in assets. So do Senators John Kennedy of Louisiana – 65 historical slaves and a net worth $12 million – and Liz Warren of Massachusetts – 14 slaves and $8 million.

Sehgal and Sehgal noted that prior research reveals that slavery’s malignant tendrils reach across centuries to spoil the present.

“Studies have found counties with higher rates of slavery in 1860 are associated with higher contemporary levels of racial inequality in education, as well as better socioeconomic outcomes (e.g. income, home ownership, food security) among Whites.”

The current study further exemplifies the long reach of injustice. Considering that wealth and political power are notoriously linked, and slaveholder’s descendants appear to enjoy greater generational wealth, those with political power today are more likely to be beneficiaries of the ugliest form of racism.