The issue of slavery reparations remains a political minefield. As illustrated by controversy surrounding Rep. John Conyers' famous H.R. 40 bill (as in 40 acres and a mule), and the Senate's recent disclaimer-laden apology, the concept of material compensation for the impact of racial oppression stirs up anxieties about how much, to whom, and to what end?

Yet officials may be more open to redressing more recent atrocities. In 1994, Florida offered over $2 million in compensation to survivors of the Rosewood Massacre of 1923, in which a small Black community was ravaged and ethnically cleanse by white mobs. Last year, Florida joined a handful of states in issuing a formal apology for slavery.

While the Birmingham pardons resonate with the same political sentiment, an unveiling of old arrest records this week touched on a more critical aspect of historical resolution: the durability of memory.

Langford acknowledged that many would reject the pardon, as the people who broke unjust laws would see their arrests as proud testaments to a mass movement.

Gwendolyn C. Webb-Happling, arrested and imprisoned as a teenager in Birmingham in 1963, told the Associated Press, "We went to jail for a purpose—to be free."

Besides, as National Public Radio points out, many of the protesters targeted were just kids. In the “Children's Crusade,” Black students skipped school to stand their ground against the police, facing an onslaught of firehoses and attack dogs that would later be exposed on television screens around the globe. In retrospect—with or without a pardon—no one examining the history of that era would question their innocence.

Image: Montgomery County Sheriff's Office via AP