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time  for reconciliation  around human rights  for all,  but there remains  unfinished business  in  Maryland  associated  with  slavery that is still a part of our ongoing legacy.
President Lincoln was explicit that if he could have maintained the Union without ending slavery, he would have done so.    We live in an America that remains  reluctant to unequivocally view black  slaves  as victims  of an evil transgression, perhaps  in part because we  are more  concerned that white Americans  should feel  good about all  the undertakings of all their ancestors.    A related concern is that in soundly repudiating slavery as the evil that it was, we might fail to adequately glorify some Founding Fathers in the popular myths that we  still  embrace.
Maryland House of Delegate Joint Resolution   12  in  1989  focused on the need at the national level for a commemoration of African American Middle Passage and slavery with the following words. "[R]esolved by the General Assembly that the State of Maryland request the President and 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 the  contributions  African