Articles & Special Issues Financial Capability

The Long Afterlife of Slavery in Asset Stripping, Historical Memory, and Family Burden: Toward a Third Reconstruction

How does the legacy of slavery continue to shape financial attitudes and decisions in the United States?

Published in Building Financial Capability & Assets in America’s Families, a special issue of Families in Society, this work traces the history of economic disruptions that have shaped racial wealth inequality, and the authors propose a Third Reconstruction. This final Reconstruction, centered on voting and civil rights, as well as financial enforcement, would aim to increase economic security for Black households, fostering “the opportunity to generate new collective narratives of genuine economic freedom where they can realize their hopes and capabilities.”

This work developed from a paper presented at Financial Capability and Asset Building: Achievements, Challenges, and Next Steps, a national conference hosted at Washington University in St. Louis by the Center for Social Development in the Brown School and by the Financial Social Work Initiative in the University of Maryland School of Social Work.

See also
Sherraden, M. S., Huang, J., Jones, J. L., & Callahan, C. (2022). Building financial capability and assets in America’s families [Special issue introduction]. Families in Society, 103(1), 3–6. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894211066464

Finsel, C., Watson Grote, M., Libby, M., Mahon, C., & Sherraden, M. S. (2022). Financial capability and asset building with a racial- and gender-equity lens: Advances from the field. Families in Society, 103(1), 86–100. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894211063133

Project: Financial Capability & Asset Building (FCAB)

Citation

Fergus, D., & Shanks, T. R. (2022). The long afterlife of slavery in asset stripping, historical memory, and family burden: Toward a third Reconstruction. Families in Society, 103(1), 7–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894211061283