Northern banks, insurers, and railroads profited directly from slavery

Evidence

In the North, there was J. P. Morgan & Co., which made loans secured by enslaved black bodies, and New York Life Insurance, which made money from insurance policies purchased by enslavers. Railroad lines, including Canadian National, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific were also built on the backs of enslaved laborers. Whatever their stated ideological beliefs, North and South, plantation owners, banks, and the judicial system were all involved in ensuring that slavery continued. — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations, 455