The state of Connecticut on Wednesday evening became the 8th state (and the first in New England) to apologize for its role in slavery. I refer you to my cousin James DeWolf Perry’s blog, The Living Consequences, for his excellent coverage of this legislative act.

One detail that amazed me when I read it in Joanne Pope Melish’s book Disowning Slavery is that in Connecticut, on the eve of the American Revolution, half of all ministers, lawyers, and public officials, and a third of all doctors owned enslaved African people.

I look forward to Rhode Island taking similar action. Still technically known as “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” the “Ocean State” was responsible for half of all U.S. slave trading.