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H. 4506

STATUS INFORMATION

Concurrent Resolution
Sponsors: Rep. Hart
Document Path: l:\council\bills\rm\1209mm07.doc

Introduced in the House on January 17, 2008
Currently residing in the House Committee on Invitations and Memorial Resolutions

Summary: Apology

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1/17/2008  House   Introduced HJ-10
   1/17/2008  House   Referred to Committee on Invitations and Memorial 
                        Resolutions HJ-10

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

1/17/2008

TO EXPRESS THE PROFOUND REGRET OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY FOR THE HISTORY OF WRONGS INFLICTED UPON BLACK CITIZENS BY MEANS OF SLAVERY AND LEGALIZED RACIAL SEGREGATION, AND TO CALL UPON ALL CITIZENS TO TAKE PART IN ACTS OF RACIAL RECONCILIATION.

Whereas, our nation's Declaration of Independence proclaims, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness"; and

Whereas, involuntary servitude, as practiced within the borders of South Carolina in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, violated the cardinal precept that all human beings are created equal in the sight of God and deprived many thousands of citizens of liberty, the pursuit of happiness, the ability to benefit from their own labor, and, in many cases, of life itself; and

Whereas, the practice of slavery was embedded in constitutional provisions and laws enacted by predecessors to this General Assembly and other civil authorities of South Carolina; and

Whereas, shortly after the founding of the British Colony of Carolina, the practice of slavery began with a 1669 constitution that provided land to white colonists according to the level of their holdings in slaves and free black employees, twenty acres per black male and ten acres per black female; and

Whereas, by the time of the American Revolution, slavery had become entrenched in South Carolina so that at the founding of the United States many South Carolina families owned slaves; and

Whereas, even as slaves engaged in back-breaking physical labor, endured squalid housing, and saw their families broken apart as spouses and children were sold from one owner to another, black men and women cultivated primarily rice and, later, tobacco, cotton, and other crops in a largely agricultural state, built essential public facilities, and contributed to the creation and accumulation of wealth; and

Whereas, by 1860, just prior to the time of the American Civil War, nearly forty-nine percent of South Carolinians owned slaves, and South Carolina joined the forces that defended a society with slavery as a defining characteristic; and

Whereas, in the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation and during the period known as Reconstruction, black residents of South Carolina not only gained legal freedom but also participated more directly in the public life of the State. However, by the 1890's, there were almost no black officeholders in South Carolina, a situation that went unremedied for more than fifty years; and

Whereas, the Constitution of 1895, enacted by the South Carolina General Assembly, abolished the Reconstruction Constitution of 1868 and mandated separate but equal schools that were anything but equal. Legal segregation of railroad coaches (1898), trolleys (1904), and textile mills (1915) followed; and

Whereas, as a result of dire economic and social conditions, including threats of racial violence, black South Carolinians joined the "Great Migration" from the South to the North in the first half of the twentieth century; and

Whereas, despite the legacies of slavery and the imposition of laws that segregated blacks and whites in schools, public facilities, and civic life, black South Carolinians persisted in faith and hope for a better day, one in which they could participate fully in the economic and democratic lives of their State and country; and

Whereas, the people of South Carolina celebrate the progress of its black citizens toward achieving that better day, in the entrepreneurship of black businessmen with local to international clientele, in the founding and sustaining of colleges and universities that historically have served black students, and in the many black South Carolinians who have provided leadership in education, religion, law, civil rights, and governance to the State and nation; and

Whereas, the members of the General Assembly urge the citizens of South Carolina to join with them in acknowledging our transgressions in this matter, in learning the lessons of history so that we may not repeat the mistakes of the past, and in doing all in our power to promote racial reconciliation; and

Whereas, in humble contrition, we petition the forgiveness of Almighty God for our transgressions in participating in slavery and perpetuating racism and beseech His assistance in the reconciliation and healing we seek among all the citizens of this State. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, express their profound regret for the history of wrongs inflicted upon black citizens by means of slavery and legalized racial segregation, and call upon all citizens to take part in acts of racial reconciliation.

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