WASHINGTON -- Germany has apologized for its treatment of Jews in World War II. Australia has apologized to its aborigines. And Tony Blair has apologized to the Irish for Great Britain's handling of the potato famine.

American presidents have come close to apologizing to African-Americans for slavery, and several have spoken of the evil of what some historians call the peculiar institution. Soon, in a measure introduced by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., -- a white man representing a largely black district -- the United States House of Representatives could finally, formally apologize for slavery, Jim Crow segregation and the continuing legacy of discrimination against black people.

 As of last week, due in part to a strategy devised to appeal more intimately to potential backers of his congressional resolution, Cohen had collected 97 co-sponsors, including Republican Phil English of Pennsylvania.

 In separate letters to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Jewish caucus, and to members of the Missouri, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and New Jersey congressional delegations whose state legislatures have considered, or passed, similar resolutions, Cohen made his appeal.

 "Slavery and Jim Crow laws were able to survive in our country because they were protected by the actions and acquiescence of the United States government, including Congress; we are still fighting their enduring legacies to this day," the letters say.

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he Alabama Legislature passed a resolution Thursday expressing "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery and apologizing for slavery's wrongs and lingering effects on the United States.

Alabama is the fourth Southern state to pass a slavery apology, following votes by the legislatures in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.

Immediately after the votes in the House and Senate, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley's spokesman, Jeff Emerson, said the Republican governor would keep a commitment he made earlier to sign the resolution as soon as he receives it.

In the Senate, the resolution vote split along party lines, with 20 Democrats in support and eight Republicans in opposition. The House took a voice vote, which provided no record of how anyone voted.

Sen. Hank Sanders, the black Democrat from Selma who guided the resolution through the Senate, said the vote "sends a message that Alabama is finally standing on its history rather than having its history weigh it down."

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Annapolis has joined a handful of jurisdictions across the country to officially apologize for its role in the American slave trade.

 The City Council passed a resolution unanimously Monday, with aldermen Michael Christman and Julie Stankivic abstaining.

 Sponsored by aldermen Richard Israel and Sam Shropshire, the measure went through substantial revisions, with the final version, drafted by Israel, expressing "profound regret" and recommending that the last week in October be a week for studying slavery.

 "The citizens can be proud that Annapolis is the first municipal body to apologize for its past support of slavery and segregation," Shropshire said.

 Annapolis was one of the Chesapeake region's earliest slave ports, yet had a large class of free blacks. Slavery was abolished in Maryland in 1864. [MORE]

A shareholder proposal critical of JPMorgan Chase's slavery apology will be considered at the company's annual meeting on Tuesday, May 15, 2007. The event will take place at 10 a.m. at the company's offices at One Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York City.
    The company unsuccessfully sought to exclude the resolution by appealing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which ruled in favor of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), the proponent.
    The resolution will be presented by Deneen Borelli, a Fellow of Project 21[HERE and HERE], on behalf of NLPC. Deneen Borelli said today, "It's absurd for someone to apologize for the transgressions of others committed hundreds of years ago. Slavery was an abomination and blemish on our Nation's history. JPMorgan Chase's apology for slavery, along with a $5 million donation for a scholarship fund, are the fruits of a shakedown. It is the looting of shareholder assets and sets a terrible precedent."
    Peter Flaherty, NLPC President, said today, "If JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon were alive 200 years ago and owned slaves, the apology would be appropriate. Otherwise it is about as cynical and as hollow as you can
get."
    In a 2005 letter, then-Chairman & CEO William B. Harrison Jr. and then- President & COO Jamie Dimon stated, "We apologize to the African-American community, particularly those who are descendants of slaves, and to the rest of the American public..." This apology was accompanied by a Company pledge to establish a $5 million scholarship fund for African-Americans. Dimon now serves as Executive Chairman and CEO.

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