SORRY SORRY SORRY

Apologizing for the enslavement and racial segregation of African-Americans.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES(110th CONGRESS), February 27, 2007
RESOLUTION (H.RES.194)

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow;
(2) apologizes to African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow; and
(3) expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future.

The resolution text can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/thomas

footnote:
"Slavery and Jim Crow are stains upon what is the greatest nation on the face of the earth," Cohen [ who has pushed for this bill ] said. Part of forming a more perfect union, he said, "is such a resolution as we have before us today where we face up to our mistakes and apologize as anyone should apologize for things that were done in the past that were wrong."
Cohen became the first white to represent the 60 percent black district in Memphis in more than three decades when he captured a 2006 primary where a dozen black candidates split the vote. He has sought to reach out to his black constituents, and early in his term showed interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus until learning that was against caucus rules .
Another of his first acts as a freshman congressman in early 2007 was to introduce the slavery apology resolution. His office said that the House resolution was brought to the floor only after learning that the Senate would be unable to join in a joint resolution.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/29/house-formally-apologizes_n_115743.html

An Act to prevent the further introduction of Slaves [ Canada ], and to limit the Term of Contracts for Servitude with this Province, Statues of Upper Canada, 33 George III, Chapter VII (passed on 9 July 1793).
This was the first British jurisdiction in the New World to pass laws against slavery. The legislation did not actually abolish the slavery that already existed in Upper Canada, but it prevented the introduction of new slaves into the province. Only with the British Emancipation Act of 1833 would slavery be abolished in all parts of the British Empire.
Source: http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/ENGLISH/centennial/big/big_30_antislavery.htm
NOTE: Vermont abolished "Slavery" in 1777


This history of slavery in America(USA) and Jim Crow should be understood in the larger context of a history that wages onwards deep into WWII in the 20th Century- Particularly by the recently published scholarly work on Neo-slavery

Convicts engaged in road work, Pitt County, North Carolina. Autumn 1910. The central figure in the picture is J.Z. McLawhon, who was at that time county superintendent of chain gangs. The dogs are bloodhounds used for running down any attempted escapees.