Latest Slavery News
California Senate rejects involuntary servitude amendment
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A proposal aimed at removing the last remnant of slavery from California law failed to pass the state Senate on Thursday after Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration warned it could cost taxpayers billions of dollars by forcing the state to pay prisoners a $15-per-hour...
Court: Harvard can be sued for distress over slave photos
BOSTON (AP) — A Connecticut woman who says she's descended from slaves who are portrayed in widely published, historical photos owned by Harvard University can sue the school for emotional distress, Massachusetts’ highest court ruled Thursday. The state’s Supreme Judicial Court...
Editorial Roundup: Florida
Palm Beach Post. June 19, 2022. Editorial: Curb teacher role in Florida effort to ban books If anyone reading this still believes teachers just teach, we’d invite them to think again. Today’s teachers hold many jobs beyond simply providing an education. The state...
Juneteenth celebrations emphasize ending racial disparities
DALLAS (AP) — After Opal Lee led hundreds in a walk through her Texas hometown to celebrate Juneteenth this weekend, the 95-year-old Black woman who helped successfully push for the holiday to get national recognition said it's important that people learn the history behind it. ...
Efforts spotlight slave who inspired beach name, local tale
BEVERLY, Mass. (AP) — An enslaved Black man, the tall tale he inspired and the beach that now bears his name are the focus of new efforts to recognize the role of slavery along Massachusetts' picturesque North Shore. As the story goes, Robin Mingo was promised freedom by his white...
272 enslaved people sold to pay debts; exhibit tells story
DONALDSONVILLE, La. (AP) — A former Episcopal church in Donaldsonville, built in 1873 on land donated by a slave owner and Louisiana governor, is now home to a new, permanent exhibit that pays tribute to enslaved people who worked Louisiana’s sugarcane fields It will open on the...
Town creates scholarship in memory of slave family it sold
JAMESTOWN, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island town has created a scholarship fund and will fly the Juneteenth flag to recognize and begin atoning for its role in the slave trade. The Jamestown Town Council approved a resolution this week in memory of the family of Betty Martin and “all...
North Carolina nail salon owner sentenced for forced labor
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina woman has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for using verbal, physical and emotional threats to coerce a person to work at her nail salon for nearly two years, according to a federal prosecutor. Thuy Tien Luong, 38, of Charlotte was also...
Resolution apologizing for Boston's role in slavery approved
BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s city council unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday apologizing for the Massachusetts capital’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The resolution, which is non-binding, pledges the city will remove “prominent anti-Black symbols” and educate...
Documents rediscovered: Sojourner Truth's fight to save son
In 1828, years before she took the name Sojourner Truth, a Black woman who had escaped slavery with her infant daughter won a court fight in New York’s Hudson Valley to bring her son, Peter, home from Alabama. It was a historic case of a Black woman seeking the release of her son...
