From Cotton to Coca-Cola: A Family History Case Study on the Limitations of Higher Education to Close the Generational Wealth Gap
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article is a family history that supported the relationship between slavery and generational wealth. The research documented the history of two Moffett families who were probably not related biologically—a White one who owned a Black one with the same last name. However, the two family histories revealed a larger and more complicated narrative about the origins and intractable roots of American inequality that follows the trail of my slave ancestors to one of the most well- known and wealthiest international corporations in the world—from cotton to Coca-Cola. This is the account of a set of conditions that, while assisting Whites to acquire generational wealth, prevented Black people from doing the same. The piece discusses how generational wealth is accumulated and maintained and argues that higher education alone has provided limited opportunities for Black families to acquire and maintain generational wealth. Recommendations included attention to individual and institutional racism, particularly the structural factors that White families have used to leverage their income and wealth, notably government programs, political and social contacts, access to financial resources, and privileged information about economic opportunities.
Article Details
JCSCORE (ISSN 2642-2387) provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. All content in JCSCORE is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
Unless otherwise noted, works published in JCSCORE are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License (CC BY-NC-SA). By granting a CC BY-NC-SA license in their work, authors retain copyright ownership of the work, but they give explicit permission for others to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy the work, as long as the original source and author(s) are properly cited (i.e. a complete bibliographic citation and link to the JCSCORE website), re-use of the work is not for commercial purposes, and the re-used work is shared with the same license. No permission is required from the author(s) or the publishers for such use. According to the terms of the CC BY-NC-SA license, any reuse or redistribution must indicate the original CC-BY-NC-SA license terms of the work.
Exceptions to the application of the CC BY-NC-SA license may be granted at the author(s)’ discretion if reasonable extenuating circumstances exist. Such exceptions must be granted in writing. For coordinating use permission you may either contact the author directly or email jcscore@ou.edu.
References
Badkar, M. (2014, June 12). We’re on the verge of the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-transfer-of-wealth-in-history-2014-6
Bailey, S. (2014, December 2). Investing in Coca-Cola: The world’s largest soft drink company. Retrieved from http://marketreallist.com/2014/12/importance-coca-colas-iconic-brand-name/
Baptist, E. (2014). The half has never been old: Slavery and the making of American capitalism. New York: Basic Books.
Blackmon, D. (2008). Slavery by another name: The re-enslavement of Black Americans from civil war to World War II. New York: Doubleday Books. https://doi.org/10.5323/jafriamerhist.97.1-2.0141
Brannon, P. (1959). Moffitt Mill. Alabama Historical Quarterly, 21, 84.
Bright, M. (1975). Early Georgia portraits 1715-1870. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press. Personal Communication from Office of Collections Information and Research, National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution on October 14, 2014.
Burroughs, T. (2001). Finding African Americans on the 1870 census. Heritage Quest Magazine, 91, 50-56.
Carey, A. G. (2011). Sold down the river: Slavery in the lower Chattahoochee valley of Alabama and Georgia. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ala.2012.0040 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ala.2012.0040
The chronicle of Coca-Cola: A man named Woodruff. (2012, January 1). Retrieved from http://www.coca-colacompany.com/history/the-chronicle-of-coca-cola-a-man-named-woodruff DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv6wgkj9.4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv6wgkj9.4
Coates, T. (2014, June). The case for reparations. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/toc/2014/06/
Ellisor, J. T. (2010). The second Creek War: Interethnic conflict with collusion on a collapsing frontier. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6563.2012.00328_15.x
Emmons, W. R. & Noeth, B. J. (2015, August). Why didn’t higher education protect Hispanic and Black wealth? In the Balance: Perspectives on Household Balance Sheets. St. Louis, MO: Center for Household Financial Stability of the Federal Reserve Bank.
Fletcher, M. A. (2015, January 24). A shattered foundation. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/01/24/the-american-dream-shatters-in-prince-georges-county/
Gaddis, S.M. (2015). Discrimination in the credential society: An audit study of race and college selectivity in the labor market. Social Forces, 93(4), 1451-1479. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sou111 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sou111
Gates, H. L. (2014, February 10). Slavery by the numbers. The Root. Retrieved from
Galloway, T. H. (2013, August 16). Joel Hurt (1850-1926). New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/business-economy/joel-hurt-1850-1926
Genealogy and History Trails of Russell County Alabama. (n.d.) Joel Hurt. Retrieved from http://genealogytrails.com/ala/russell/bios.html
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. (n.d.) Slaves and slaveholdings. Retrieved from http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/slavery-and-anti-slavery/resources/slaves-and-slavehol
Gutman, H. G. (1976). The Black family in slavery and freedom, 1750-1925. New York: Panthenon.
Hammett, L. B., & McGinnis, C. B. (2012). Rare artifacts belonging to the Oglethorpe chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the women who donated them. Muscogiana Journal, 23(1), 32-54.
Kennedy, L., & Galer, M.J. (2004). Historic Linwood Cemetery. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.
Lyles, J. (2010). Images of America: Phenix City. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.
Obituary section (1908, November 3). [From The Atlanta Constitution]. Retrieved from ProQuest Historical Newspapers. http://search.proquest.com.proxy.library.emory.edu/hnpatlantaconstitution2/docview/496181799/C78685C8821F4107PQ/ 1?accountid=10747.
Obituary section (1911, January 23). [From The Columbus Daily Enquirer]. Retrieved from http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/atlnewspapers/id:aga1911-0435
Ross, J. (2014, May 27). African-Americans with college degrees are twice as likely to be unemployed as other graduates. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/african-americans-with-college-degrees-are-twice-as-likely-to-be-unemployed-as-other-graduates/430971/
Russell County Heritage Book Committee. (2003). The heritage of Russell County, Alabama. Clanton, AL: Heritage Publications Consultants.
Sitton, T. & Utley, D. K. (1997). From can see to can’t see: Texas cotton farmers on the southern prairies. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2587418 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2587418
Sketches of Alabama towns and counties, vol 3. (1937). Birmingham, AL: Alabama Genealogical Society.
Southern Historical Association. (1895). Memoirs of Georgia: Containing historical accounts of the state's civil, military, industrial and professional interests, and personal sketches of many of its people, vol 2. Atlanta, GA: Southern Historical Press.
Starkman, D. (2014, June 30). The $236,000 hole in the American dream. The New Republic, 245(12), 30-35. Retrieved from https://newrepublic.com/article/118425/closing-racial-wealth-gap
Tankersley, J. (2014, January 23). Economic mobility hasn’t changed in a half-century in America, economists declare. The Washington Post.
Telfair, N. (1929). History of Columbus, Georgia: 1828-1928. Columbus, GA: The Historical Publishing, Company. Retrieved from http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=22823
University of Michigan News. (2015, March 5). African- Americans with ‘elite’ college degrees have little advantage in job market. Retrieved from https://www.news.umich.edu/african-americans-with-elite-college-degrees-have-little-advantage-in-job-market
US Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.glorecords.blm.gov
Wells, I. B. (1996) Southern horrors and other writings: The anti-lynching campaign of Ida B. Wells. New York: St. Martin’s Press.