New Jersey apologizes for slavery

NEWARK, N.J., Jan. 8 (UPI) -- New Jersey has become the fifth state to formally apologize for its role in slavery from colonial times through the American Revolution.

On the last day of the legislative session Monday in Newark, the resolution expressed "profound regret" that "the fundamental values of Africans were shattered; they were brutalized, humiliated and dehumanized," the Newark Star-Ledger reported.

The state's slave population peaked at 12,422 in 1800, University of Virginia research said. In 1804, New Jersey was the last Northern state to approve slavery's gradual abolition.

Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia have passed slavery apology resolutions. Similar bills are pending in Arkansas, Massachusetts and New York.