Scholars Asked to Calculate Slavery Profits - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, Sept 28, 2000

SACRAMENTO, CALIF.

California lawmakers want scholars to calculate the profits that slave owners and businesses made from slavery.

A bill approved last month by the Assembly asks the University of California to assemble scholars to analyze the economic benefits of slavery. Some members of Congress have introduced bills calling for a formal apology for slavery. Activist groups such as the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America have called for reparations and an apology to descendants of those deprived of life, liberty, education and family ties. The bill, however, does not mention how the information would be used.

Assemblyman Steve Baldwin, R-El Cajon, says since California was not a slave state, it would be a better issue for the U.S. Congress to pursue. The bill was approved 598 and returned to the Senate for a vote on amendments.