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Corporate Social Responsibility

Supporting the International African American Museum with a grant from New York Life.

NYL Supports International African American Museum

New York Life has provided a $100,000 grant to support the International African American Museum (IAAM) for the development of the museum and its Center for Family History, which is scheduled to begin later this year. The IAAM expects to open its doors in 2020.

"It is important that we continue to help individuals and families understand the role their ancestors played in the story of our country and their own heritage,” said Heather Nesle, vice president, Corporate Responsibility, New York Life. “As a company committed to supporting the African American community and celebrating its culture and history, New York Life is honored to help the IAAM establish an international research and educational hub."

It is important that we continue to help individuals and families understand the role their ancestors played in the story of our country and their own heritage."

Heather Nesle, Vice President, Corporate Responsibility

The historic site of Gadsden’s Wharf was chosen for the IAAM since nearly half of all enslaved Africans brought to the United States arrived in Charleston, and the majority entered at Gadsden’s Wharf. At the museum’s Center for Family History guests will have access to state-of-the-art technology that will assist them in uncovering their ancestries.

Over the decades, New York Life has demonstrated its commitment to the African American community by donating company archives to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, funding impactful organizations and initiatives like the PBS series “Slavery and the Making of America,” and helping to establish The New York Life Endowment for Emerging African American Issues at the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at CUNY.

For more information about New York Life’s grant to the IAAM, read the press release.

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Media contact

Lacey Siegel
New York Life Insurance Company
(212) 576-7937
Lacey_S_Siegel@newyorklife.com