Congress Apologizes for Slavery, Jim Crow
Statues in Stonetown, Zanzibar mark the center of the slave trade in East Africa. iStock hide caption
On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives issued an unprecedented apology to black Americans for the institution of slavery, and the subsequent Jim Crow laws that for years discriminated against blacks as second-class citizens in American society.
Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, drafted the resolution. Cohen explains the apology's long journey for Congressional approval and the significance of its timing.