Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Research Files of James Cox on Slavery Reparations, Accession #14178, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were given to the University of Virginia Library by James Cox, Vienna, Virginia, on March 7, 2008.

Scope and Content

The papers of James Cox consist of research files on slavery reparations for articles published in USA Today published in 2002, ca. 1,200 items (6 Hollinger boxes, ca. 2 linear feet), 1835-2002.

The collection contains research files of photocopies and notes, chiefly from the 19th century railroads and financial institutions which became the 21st century defendants in a 2002 slavery reparations suit: Deadria Farmer-Paellman vs Fleetboston Financial Corporation, Aetna Inc, CSX and their predecessors, successors and/or assigns. Material copied includes slave manifests, inventories, census records, court judgments insurance policies, runaway ads, etc.

Cox's notes and photocopies of primary materials from the following institutions are present: the National Archives, U.S. Census Bureau, Montgomery Historical Society, American Textile History Museum, Museum of Jewish Heritage, Richmond Public Library, Louisiana Supreme Court, Library of Virginia, New York Historical Society, Tulane University, Virginia Historical Society, University of Virginia, University of Texas, and Harvard University.

These papers also include notes and interviews with historians and other scholars, including Richard America, Charles Ogletree, Ted Kornweibel, Richard Kilbourne, R.L. Wilson, James McPherson, Charles Dew, Walter Johnson, Philip Curtin, David Eltis, Ron Walters, Charles Blockson, and Manning Marable.

There are also notes and interviews with activists, including Deadria Farmer-Paellman, Roger Wareham and Jesse Jackson; plaintiff's lawyers, Ed Fagan, Dianne Sammons, Willie Gary, Alexander Pires, Richard Scruggs; attorneys Stuart Eizenstat of Covington and Burling, and Owen Pell of White & Case; California assemblyman Tom Hayden; Sonia Metzger, staffer for New York assemblyman Roger Green; Kriston Alford, staffer for U.S. Representative John Conyers; officials in the California Department of Insurance; and the chief librarian at the Guildhall Library of London.

Interviews and research were conducted on the following companies and businesses: Aetna, CSX, Deutsche Banc Alex Brown, Rothschilds, FleetBoston, Lehman Brothers, New York Life Insurance, West Point Stevens, JP Morgan Chase, Union Pacific Railroad, Tribune Company, Gannett, Knight Ridder, Advance/Newhouse, Norfolk Southern Railroad, Hearst, A.H. Belo, Credit Suisse First Boston, ING Barings, Lloyds of London, Penn Mutual, AIG, ACE, CIGNA, Brown Brothers Harriman, Canadian National Railway, Colt, Media General, Phelps Dodge, Morton Salt, USX, Fruit of the Loom, Entergy, and Bank of Rhode Island.