NEW YORK -- A woman whose ancestors were slaves sued three companies for allegedly profiting from slavery for nearly two centuries -- a long-simmering concept that could pick up steam if more blacks are allowed to join the lawsuits.

Plaintiffs' lawyers said the lawsuits were the first to seek slavery reparations from private companies. They were filed against the Aetna insurance company, the FleetBoston financial services group and railroad giant CSX on behalf of the 35 million American descendants of African slaves.

At a news conference announcing the lawsuits Tuesday, Deadria Farmer-Paellmann said she spent five years researching the topic after writing on her law school application that her dream was to build the case that would win slavery reparations.

She said she became interested in the quest as she listened to her grandparents, including descriptions of her great-great-grandmother's escape from a rice plantation on the eve of the Civil War, when she stole a boat and ran away, surviving two weeks in swamps. Farmer-Paellmann graduated from law school in 2000.

"My grandfather always talked about the 40 acres and a mule we were promised and never given," said Farmer-Paellmann, who was the only plaintiff identified in the lawsuits.

The three suits, which seek unspecified damages, claimed that as many as 1,000 unidentified corporations may have benefited from slavery between 1619 and 1865.

The lawsuits seek class-action status and could be expanded to include more companies.

Lawyer Ed Fagan said a series of Holocaust lawsuits he helped settle for $8 billion had blazed the legal trail for the slavery action by setting a precedent in making banks and insurance companies pay damage to victims.

Any damages won from the lawsuit would be put into a fund to improve health, education and housing opportunities for blacks, said attorney Roger Wareham, one of a group of lawyers who prepared the lawsuits.

"This is not about individuals receiving checks in their mailbox," Wareham said.

The lawsuits say slavery is a wound that fails to heal, condemning blacks in America to more poverty, unemployment, poor education and clashes with the justice system than other Americans.

"They lag behind whites according to every social yardstick: literacy, life expectancy, income and education," the lawsuits say. "They are more likely to be murdered and less likely to have a father at home."

In a statement, Aetna said: "We do not believe a court would permit a lawsuit over events which -- however regrettable -- occurred hundreds of years ago. These issues in no way reflect Aetna today."