Apr 7, 3:27 AM EDT

Ga. slave ownership could sway debate

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Several Georgia lawmakers have opposed efforts to issue an official state apology for slavery, but they could be swayed knowing their predecessors authorized the state purchase of slaves, a legislator said.

As state lawmakers debate issuing an official apology for slavery similar to those passed by the Virginia Legislature and the North Carolina Senate, an Associated Press review of 19th-century records kept by the Digital Library of Georgia at the University of Georgia shows the state's role went beyond regulating and taxing slave owners. Georgia bought and sold slaves as well.

Knowing this might sway some legislators who have been reluctant to support an apology for the sins of long-dead Southern planters and industrialists, said state Sen. Eric Johnson, the top-ranking Republican in the GOP-controlled Senate.

"Some resist expressing any sort of apology because they or their family weren't involved," said Johnson, the Senate's president pro-tem. "If the state actually did buy and sell and own slaves, that may make it more comfortable for people in the state to express regret over slavery."

Needing workers to build roads and improve river transportation in 1829, Georgia lawmakers authorized spending $50,000 to buy a state-owned labor force of 190 "able bodied" slaves.

The Legislature's foray into government slaveholding, at least on a large scale, proved short lived. By 1834, the state sold its slaves - along with horses, mules, wagons and tools - for $117,464.

State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, an Atlanta Democrat who heads the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, said the state's slave-owning history "makes a huge difference" in the apology debate.

"It was absolutely the government participating as an active partner - the government itself, rather than individuals," Brooks said.

Some state Republican leaders have expressed skepticism recently about issuing an apology.

"People shouldn't be held responsible for the sins of their fathers," state Senate majority leader Tommie Williams said last month. He declined to be interviewed Friday, referring calls to Johnson.

State House Speaker Glen Richardson said last month he was "not sure what we ought to be apologizing for." His office said Friday he was vacationing and unavailable for comment.

Johnson said he only recently discovered the state had owned slaves. He said he's been working with fellow Republicans and black Democrats to try to craft a statement with broad enough support to pass the Legislature before it adjourns for the year, likely by late April.

The Virginia Legislature and the North Carolina Senate have both approved statements expressing regret for their role in slavery. The North Carolina House of Representatives still must approve the measure there.