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Virginia General Assembly Passes Resolution Expressing Profound Regret for Slavery
Historic Resolution Sponsored by Democrat A. Donald McEachin |
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Delegates of the Virginia General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution Saturday, which expresses "profound regret" for Virginia's role in slavery and the systematic discrimination that followed in its aftermath. Democrat A. Donald McEachin introduced the historic resolution to coincide with Virginia's celebration of the 400th anniversary of the 1607 founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English colony to survive in what is now the United States. The House of Delegates approved McEachin's resolution by a 96-0 vote. State Senator Henry Marsh (D-Richmond) sponsored the resolution in the senate, where it passed by a vote of 40-0. Enslaved Africans and African indentured servants played an enormous role in the success of the Jamestown colony. The first Africans were documented in the colony in the year 1619, when a census noted 32 African indentured servants. In August of that same year, colonists purchased 20 enslaved Africans from a Portuguese slave ship bound from Luanda, Angola to Vera Cruz, Mexico. Chattel slavery gradually replaced indentured servitude in Jamestown, and in 1661 Virginia passed a law which decreed that children of enslaved women were slaves for life. Virginia later became a major hub of the U.S. domestic slave trade. Image: Slave Insurance Advertisement Richmond, VA City Directory, 1859 Denying or diminishing the role Africans and African Americans played in the success of the Jamestown colony would essentially be creating a fiction. In a statement on his official website, McEachin states, "While we should be extremely proud as Americans of our traditions, we must also acknowledge the stain on our history of slavery and state sponsored racism ... It is appropriate and correct for the Commonwealth to offer to atone for this behavior and to bring us together in the spirit of reconciliation. The Commonwealth can and should take the leadership role to help Virginians heal and to bring all parts of the community together." The resolution does not carry the weight of law but sends a symbolic message by stating that "An apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past, but confession of the words can speed racial healing and reconciliation, and help African-American and white citizens to confront the ghosts of their collective pasts together." The resolution also expresses regret for the exploitation of Native Americans. For more information, please visit Delegate A. Donald McEachin's website at www.donaldmceachin.com or email McEachin at deldmceachin@house.state.va.us Links to Related Coverage "Virginia Apologizes for Role in Slavery," by Larry O'Dell, Associated Press Writer "Apology is the Right Thing to Do," by Michael Paul Williams, Richmond Times-Dispatch Columnist "Virginia Apologizes for Role in Slavery," Associated Press video "Healing and Understanding in the Commonwealth," official website for Delegate A. Donald McEachin. |
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