Maryland will form a commission to study the possibility of providing reparations for slavery after the state’s legislature reversed Gov. Wes Moore’s veto of enabling legislation on Dec. 16.
Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865 with the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It was abolished in Maryland a year prior, in 1864, when the state amended its constitution to outlaw the practice. In 2007, the Maryland General Assembly and the Annapolis City Council issued official statements expressing “regret for the role Maryland played in instituting and maintaining slavery.”
