ACE: We Insured No Slaves
By Daniel Hays
NU Online News Service, May 3, 1:23 p.m. EST?In the wake of California's demand that insurers search their files for slavery-related policies, ACE INA Holdings of Philadelphia said that it had never carried policies on the life of a slave.
A representative for the company, Lisa Fleishman-Hicks, said the only item found in the records was a photocopy of a policy that was not written by any ACE-related company. Ms. Hicks said the photocopy was of a policy that had been written by Aetna Life, and she could not immediately say why the material had been filed.
A statement from ACE stressed that Aetna Inc. is in no way affiliated with ACE or its subsidiaries.
ACE said that its predecessor companies had written a few life policies, but checking its records back to the 18th century, ACE found the predecessor companies "did not write or carry any life insurance policy written on the life of a slave."
Comparing marine insurance records with known slave vessels, ACE said it had determined that it "did not write or carry any policies on known slave vessels."
California's insurance department said that among its responses from insurers, the vast majority said they were not incorporated until after the slavery era.
The department said eight companies provided documents related to slavery-era insurance policies, and three had provided names of slaves and slaveholders.
Under the California law that became effective last October, insurers were asked to search their files and report on their records concerning activity related to policies covering the damage or death of slaves.
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