Apology for slavery: Gov. Markell considering request

Gov. Jack Markell is considering a request made last week for him to sign a proclamation apologizing for slavery.

"The governor is open to having discussions about the request for a proclamation on slavery," said Kelly Bachman, a spokeswoman for Markell's office, in an email.

A letter sent last week from Harmon Carey, founder and executive director of the Afro-American Historical Society in Wilmington, asks Markell to sign the document.

"Our strongly held belief is that there exists a moral imperative to acknowledge the inhumanity of slavery and the unjust prosecution of Abolitionists, such as Thomas Garrett, John Hunn, Samuel Burris et. al.," Carey wrote.

Carey said he feels that an apology for slavery would help heal wounds that he and others still feel.

"It would say to me that my government cares enough about African-American people to issue a proclamation," Carey said. "It says that not only slavery was wrong, but it was wrong to criminalize the humanitarian attempts of Quakers and others to intervene."

Carey's request follows a separate effort launched in January seeking pardons for three Delawareans who were criminally convicted for their roles as abolitionists, helping slaves escape to freedom. The effort to pardon the trio is still being studied.

Bayard Marin, president of the Quaker Hill Historic Preservation Foundation and one of those behind the push for pardons earlier this year, said he is hopeful to work with Markell's office for some sort of effort in time for Black History Month in February.

Markell's office said the governor's constituent relations office did issue a proclamation for Juneteenth, the holiday marking the end of slavery in the United States, as they do every year.

In 2010, Dover City Council passed a resolution urging the Delaware General Assembly to take up a resolution apologizing for slavery, but the Legislature did not take up the charge and the effort languished.

Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2837. Follow her on Twitter @JennaPizzi.