JOINT RESOLUTIONS
Commemoration of African American Middle Passage and Slavery

FOR the purpose of requesting that the President and the Congress of the United States
establish a national commission to propose an appropriate commemorative
monument in recognition of African American Middle Passage and Slavery and the
contributions of those who survived American slavery.

WHEREAS, Millions of Africans were forcibly removed from Africa between the
15th and 19th centuries, under unparalleled suffering and death, as a means of economic
enhancement and amelioration of the lives of Europeans and Americans; and

WHEREAS, The middle passage represented an underappreciated chapter in
America's history whereby African slaves were transported by European and American
slave traders into the Americas; and

WHEREAS, 20% of the Africans enslaved perished either as a result of the trek from
the place of captivity to the slave ships, or as a result of the hardships sustained during the
middle passage across the Atlantic Ocean, or as a result of sufferings endured as slaves;
and

WHEREAS, Slave labor enabled and provided the foundation for the commercial
and industrial revolutions in Western societies, including the United States; and

WHEREAS, The devastating impact of the loss of life and destruction of family
bonds and cultural heritage due to the slave trade pales in comparison to the. many
contributions that slaves and their descendants made to the economic development of the
British colonies and subsequently to the United States of America; and

WHEREAS, African-Americans, the descendants of slaves, in spite of segregation
and discrimination since the complete abolition of slavery by the Thirteenth Amendment
in 1865, have made substantial contributions to the nation; and

WHEREAS, All Americans of every race, color, creed, and ethnic or national origin,
from whatever period of immigration to these shores, who share a common vision of the
hopes and dreams of this nation, can relate to the trauma and hardship endured by the
slaves; and

WHEREAS, The United States Congress and the President of the United States have
the necessary powers to establish commissions to propose appropriate commemorative
monuments; and

WHEREAS, No monument or memorial exists in our nation to honor and
commemorate the unusual and towering example of the forebears of African-Americans
who endured, despite the staggering loss of life; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That the State of
Maryland request the President and the Congress of the United States to take the
necessary actions to create a national commission to propose an appropriate
commemorative monument in recognition of African American Middle Passage and Slavery
and of the contributions African American slaves who survived made to the economic
development of America; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of
Legislative Reference to the Honorable George Bush, President of the United States, 1600

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