Rev. Wright resigns from state commission

SPRINGFIELD -- The former pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ has resigned from a state commission formed in 2005 to educate people about slavery in America.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. submitted his resignation to Gov. Rod Blagojevich on July 13, saying his travel schedule did not permit him to continue to serve on the Amistad Commission.

The letter was filed Friday with the Index Department of the secretary of state's office.

Blagojevich, in 2007, appointed Wright to the commission which was named for a group of enslaved Africans who overthrew their captors in 1839 as they were being transported on a ship named the Amistad.

Wright became the focus of controversy earlier this year when several of his sermons over the years surfaced during the presidential primary campaign of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Obama called Wright's statements about racism and terrorism divisive, and resigned his membership at Trinity.