Banking giant JP Morgan Chase has publicly apologised for its involvement in United States' slavery in the 19th century.

In January, the bank disclosed that between 1831 and 1865 two of its predecessor banks "accepted approximately 13,000 enslaved individuals as collateral on loans and took ownership of approximately 1,250 of them when plantation owners defaulted on the loans". The bank's statement continued: "We apologise to the American public, and particularly to African-Americans, for the role that Citizens Bank and Canal Bank played during that period."

It announced that over five years the bank would provide US$5million in an initial scholarship for African-Americans from Louisiana to attend undergraduate programmes in their home state as well as opportunities of internships at the bank.

This is a significant move on the issue of reparations. The legacy of the slave trade continues to have consequences and remains at the root of some acts of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance.  It is necessary that the truth concerning slavery and the slave trade be publicly acknowledged, taught and better understood.