The trust, which owns Britain’s Guardian daily newspaper, apologized on Tuesday for its founder’s involvement in slavery in the early 19th century and announced a “restorative justice” programme.

“We apologize that our founder and those who financed him made their fortunes from a practice that was a crime against humanity,” wrote the director of the left-wing newspaper, according to AFP.

“This horrific story should strengthen our resolve to use journalism to expose racism, injustice and inequality and hold those in power accountable,” she added.

The apology from the paper’s owner, the Scott Trust, followed an independent investigation into the possible role in slavery of John Edward Taylor, a journalist and cotton merchant who founded the paper in 1821. The investigation also looked at Manchester businessmen who were financially involved in the creation of the Guardian newspaper.

A report published on Tuesday found that John Edward Taylor “and at least nine of his eleven followers had links to slavery, mainly through the textile industry”, the paper said.

“Taylor had numerous connections through his partnership in the manufacturing company Oakden & Taylor and the cotton merchant Shuttleworth, Taylor & Co, which imported large quantities of raw cotton into America,” the report said.

Researchers from the Universities of Nottingham and Hull, England, were able to identify links between John Edward Taylor and plantations in South Carolina and Georgia after examining a register of invoices showing that Shuttleworth, Taylor & Co received cotton from the region.

One of the Guardian’s early financiers, George Phillips, was a co-owner of a plantation in Jamaica. In documents he exchanged with the British government in 1835, he listed his “human property” as 108 people.

The Scott Trust also apologized for its “early editorial positions which served to support the cotton industry and thus the exploitation of slaves”.

The foundation will invest £10m (€11.4m) in a restorative justice programme, with “millions of pounds to be earmarked specifically for communities of descendants linked to the Guardian’s 19th century founders”.

The paper has announced it will expand its coverage of black communities in the UK, the US, the Caribbean, South America and Africa. For this purpose, it is planned to create twelve new journalist positions.