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Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) is expected to sign a formal resolution Wednesday, apologizing for the state鈥檚 role in US slavery.

鈥淒elaware today is impacted by the lasting legacy of slavery, including ongoing tension between races and the existence of institutional racism,鈥� states the resolution. 鈥淚t is important for Delaware to make and Jim Crow, so that it can move forward and seek reconciliation, justice, and harmony for all of its citizens."聽

The General Assembly passed the legislation in January as an important step toward addressing the state鈥檚 continued racial inequalities.

鈥淭his is ,鈥� bill sponsor Rep. Stephanie Bolden (D), told The Wilmington News Journal. 鈥淲e were one of the last states to end slavery, but we don鈥檛 have to be one of the last to recognize the terrible damage it did.鈥�

Delaware was one of the last three states to abolish slavery, followed only by Kentucky and Mississippi.

鈥淚t鈥檚 essential that we publicly and candidly and wholly ,鈥� Governor Markell told parishioners at the Bethel American Methodist Episcopal Church on the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, 鈥渄amage that reverberates to this day in a country were 150 years after the establishment of slavery and decades after the official end of the Jim Crow era, being black in Delaware and being black in America means your likelihood of prosperity and success is less than if you are white.鈥澛�

Eight other states have already issued formal apologies for slavery. Virginia was the first state in 2007 to acknowledge 鈥渨ith profound regret鈥� the enslavement of Africans, followed by Maryland, North Carolina, and Alabama that same year. New Jersey and Florida followed in 2008 and Tennessee and Connecticut in 2009.聽

Markell鈥檚 announcement in December came after repeated requests by activists. Harmon Carey, leader of the Afro-American Historical Society in Wilmington, says Markell ignored two of his requests before he asked a third time in July after the Charleston church shootings.聽

鈥淚 thought that one way for us to respond 鈥� 鈥榰s鈥� meaning Delawareans 鈥� was for the governor to issue ,鈥� says Mr. Carey.聽

But some say real change requires a formal apology on the federal level.聽

The House attempted to pass a national apology for slavery in 2008, and the Senate tried to pass a resolution in 2009. But neither of the federal formal apologies reached the president鈥檚 desk because both proposals failed in the other house.聽聽

While conservatives may say an apology is pointless and liberals may say reparation is needed, an acknowledgement of wrongdoing still has value, says The New York Time鈥檚 Timothy Egan.

鈥淎n apology would not kill that hatred, but it would ripple, positively, in ways that may be felt for years,鈥� says Mr. Egan. 鈥淲ords of contrition 鈥� a formal acknowledgement of a grievous wrong by a great nation 鈥� have .鈥澛�

But even a formal apology at the state level can have a healing effect, says Carney.

鈥淚t would say to me that about African American people to issue a proclamation.鈥�