Today, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for the transgressions of slavery, according to CNN.com. The nonbinding resolution, that is sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, was approved on a voice vote. It will not have to be signed by President Obama.

The resolution is similar to a 2008 House resolution that acknowledged the wrongdoings of slavery but offered no reparations. It was the first time a branch of the federal government did this. However, the House will have to revisit this resolution because the composition of the chamber changed after last November's election. Harkin's resolution "acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery, and Jim Crow laws."—Shavon S. Greene