Keywords: slavery, apology, Congress, Steve Cohen, Wachovia, JPMorgan Chase, Top 50, DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, CBC, Congressional Black Caucus

The U.S. Congress issued a formal apology for slavery to Blacks in America yesterday, more than 140 years after slavery was abolished. The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Steve Cohen, who is Jewish and who represents a majority-Black district in Memphis, Tenn. "I hope that this is part of the beginning of a dialogue that this country needs to engage in, concerning what the effects of slavery and Jim Crow have been," Cohen said, according to The Washington Post. "I think we started it and we're going to continue." In 2005, JPMorgan Chase and Wachovia, Nos. 13 and 14, respectively, on The 2008 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list, apologized for atrocities toward Blacks, including using 10,000 slaves as collateral and accepting more than 1,000 slaves as payments when owners defaulted on loans, reports The Post. Earlier this year, Cohen unsuccessfully tried to join the Congressional Black Caucus.

Click here to read the full story from The Washington Post.