Library of Virginia to present virtual talk on the insurance-industrial complex of slavery
RICHMOND, Va. – The Library of Virginia will present "The Insurance-Industrial Complex of Slavery," a virtual talk by Virginia Humanities HBCU Fellow Michelle Oliver, a financial genealogist, preservation strategist and public history researcher, on Wednesday, Sept. 2, from noon to 1 p.m.
The event is free, but registration is required at https://lva-virginia.libcal.com/event/16948607.
Slavery in the United States has most often been interpreted as a system of coerced labor and racial domination. While these dimensions are essential, they do not fully account for the financial structures that sustained and institutionalized human commodification. Oliver's presentation explores another critical dimension; the financial systems that made the commodification of enslaved people a routine part of the economy.
Drawing on archival research conducted during her Virginia Humanities HBCU Fellowship and informed by more than two decades of professional experience in financial systems and risk analysis, Oliver's study reexamines antebellum Virginia through the lens of insurance design. Policies written on enslaved laborers working on canals, railroads and other industrial enterprises reveal that enslaved individuals were not only exploited as laborers, but also actuarialized within mechanisms of capital protection and loss mitigation. Insurance contracts, corporate charters and state infrastructure documents demonstrate how financial institutions integrated slavery into a broader economic architecture.
Oliver is a Virginia Humanities HBCU Fellow in residence at the Library of Virginia, where her research centers on Virginia records and bridges African American genealogy, financial records, business history, archival research and public humanities. She is the founder of Genconcepts, LLC, a heritage research and preservation consulting firm, and serves as president of the Richmond branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Her broader work includes African American cemetery preservation, funeral home records, Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction history, Black preservation and the financial dimensions of slavery and memory.
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ABOUT THE LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA
The Library of Virginia is the leading source of information on Virginia's history, government and people. The Library's collections, containing more than 134 million items, document and illustrate the lives of both famous Virginians and ordinary citizens. Our online resources draw nearly 2 million website visits per year, and our on-site records, exhibitions and events bring in thousands of visitors annually. The Library is located in downtown Richmond near Capitol Square at 800 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219.
Learn more at www.lva.virginia.gov.
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