Congressional Record, Volume 153 Issue 70 (Tuesday, May 1, 2007)

[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 70 (Tuesday, May 1, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H4232-H4238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

COMMEMORATING THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ABOLITION OF THE
TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to
the resolution (H. Res. 272) commemorating the 200th anniversary of the
abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, as amended.

[[Page H4233]]

The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:

H. Res. 272

Whereas the United Kingdom outlawed the African slave trade
in 1807 by passing the Slave Trade Abolition Act which
recognized that ``the African Slave Trade, and all manner of
dealing and trading in the Purchase, Sale, Barter, or
Transfer of Slaves, or of Persons intended to be sold,
transferred, used, or dealt with as Slaves, practiced or
carried on, in, at, to or from any Part of the Coast or
Countries of Africa, shall be, and the same is hereby utterly
abolished, prohibited, and declared to be unlawful'';
Whereas the transatlantic slave trade entailed the
kidnapping, purchase and commercial export of Africans,
mostly from West and Central Africa, to the European colonies
and new nations in the Americas, including the United States,
where they were enslaved in forced labor between the 15th and
late 19th centuries;
Whereas the term ``Middle Passage'' refers to the horrific
part of the transatlantic slave trade when millions of
Africans where chained together and stowed by the hundreds in
overcrowded ships where they were forced into small spaces
for months without relief as they were transported across the
Atlantic Ocean to the Americas;
Whereas historians claim that it is not possible to give an
accurate number of slaves imported to the Americas from
Africa, but scholars estimate that, at minimum, between
10,000,000 and 15,000,000 Africans survived the Middle
Passage, were imported as chattel through customs houses and
ports across the Americas, and were sold into slavery;
Whereas historians agree that many slaves arrived in the
Americas ill with infections and diseases, disabled from the
iron chains that bound them or from the physical abuse they
endured, or traumatized by rape;
Whereas historians estimate that 10 to 50 percent of the
Africans who were shipped from the continent perished during
the Middle Passage as a result of physical abuses, torture,
malnutrition, disease, infection, suicide or repercussions
from their resistance to their bondage;
Whereas Africans' resistance to the transatlantic slave
trade culminated in revolts--collective acts of rebellion--
against slave ships and their crews during the Middle
Passage, and rebellions against slavery occurred frequently
on colonial and post-colonial plantations throughout the
Americas;
Whereas historians estimate that 1,200,000 men, women, and
children were later separated from their families and
displaced from their communities by being sold to
slaveholders in other regions, colonies, States, and nations
in the inter-American and domestic slave trade that took
place through much of the 19th century;
Whereas the transatlantic slave trade is commonly
recognized by historians as the largest forced migration in
world history;
Whereas, as a result of the slave trade, an estimated
80,000,000 to 150,000,000 persons of African descent live in
Latin America and the Caribbean, making them the largest
population of persons of African descent outside of Africa;
Whereas the institution of slavery, which enslaved
Africans, their progeny and later generations for life, was
legally sanctioned by the colonial governments and later the
nations and States engaged in slavery, including the
Government of the United States, through most of the 19th
century;
Whereas slavery in the United States, during and after
British colonial rule, included the sale and acquisition of
Africans and African Americans as chattel property in
interstate and intrastate commerce;
Whereas enslaved Africans and African Americans were
defined as property that passed to heirs under inheritance
laws of the British colonial rule and later under the laws of
the various States;
Whereas enslaved Africans adapted to their environment and
created a new, rich culture that marked the development of
the African American community and continues to strongly
impact culture and society in the United States today;
Whereas the slavery that flourished in the United States
constituted an immoral and inhumane dispossession of human
life, liberty, and citizenship rights and denied Africans and
African Americans the fruits of their own labor;
Whereas the treatment of enslaved Africans and African
Americans in the colonies and the United States included the
deprivation of their freedom, exploitation of their labor,
psychological and physical abuse, separation of families, and
the targeted efforts to repress their culture, language, and
religion through legal and social restrictive measures;
Whereas enslavement has been defined as a crime against
humanity pursuant to the Nuremberg Charter (Agreement for the
Prosecution and Punishment of the Major War Criminals of the
European Axis, entered into force on August 8, 1945 (82
U.N.T.S. 279)), and subsequent international tribunals for
war crimes;
Whereas the United Nations has adopted various treaties,
declarations, and conventions and hosted conferences that
condemn slavery and the slave trade, including the
transatlantic slave trade, and has acknowledged that such
acts were barbaric in their nature and were appalling
tragedies;
Whereas the slave trade and the legacy of slavery continue
to have a profound impact on social and economic disparity,
hatred, bias, racism, and discrimination, and continue to
affect people of African descent throughout the Americas
today; and
Whereas March 25, 2007, marked the 200th anniversary of the
Slave Trade Abolition Act enacted by the British Parliament:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the historical significance of the 200th
anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade
to the people of the United States and to the world;
(2) respects the memory of those who died as a result of
slavery, including through exposure to the horrors of the
Middle Passage and in revolt against, and resistance to,
enslavement;
(3) supports the preservation of historical records and
documents in private collections, local and State
governments, shipping ports, and corporations in the United
States and throughout the Americas relating to the
transatlantic slave trade and the centuries of slavery that
followed; and
(4) urges increased education of current and future
generations about slavery and its vestiges by honoring their
significance in United States history and the history of
other nations of the Americas with appropriate research,
scholarship, curriculum, textbooks, museum exhibits and
programs, library resources and programs, and cultural
programs and activities.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Payne) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.

General Leave

Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New Jersey?
There was no objection.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution
and yield myself as much time as I may consume.
I would like to first commend our distinguished colleague and former
member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ms. Lee of California, for
introducing this very important resolution.
I am honored and humbled to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the
abolition of transatlantic slave trade with this resolution, for its
legacy continues to reflect the racial biases and socioeconomic
disparities that still exist in this country and throughout the
Americas.
As we consistently admonish the prevalence of modern-day slavery
worldwide, because it still exists in some parts of the world, it would
be hypocritical if we did not acknowledge the history of transatlantic
slave trade which existed for so long in this country, and therefore it
is appropriate that we speak about it at this time, its 200th
anniversary.
For over 300 years the United Kingdom and other European countries
kidnapped and sold millions of Africans into slavery. The transatlantic
slave trade is known as the largest forced migration in the history of
the world. Estimates range from 25 to 50 million Africans were forcibly
brought to the United States, the Caribbean, Central and South America
and to Europe. Sharks migratory patterns were changed because these
predators followed the ships in the Middle Passage because when a slave
died they were thrown overboard, or if they were killed because they
were protesting, or if they committed suicide, the sharks knew that
they could follow the ships, and it changed the migratory patterns of
sharks during this period of time.
African labor was an essential feature of economic development in
Europe and her former colonies, including the United States. All of the
nations involved flourished economically as a result of slave labor.
The fact that slavery was not abolished in the United States until
Abraham Lincoln declared to end slavery in the Confederacy in 1863 with
the Emancipation Proclamation. However, slavery was really not
abolished in the Union.
Interestingly enough, in my State of New Jersey, slavery continued
until 1866. In New Jersey, a mother, a woman could become free at the
age of 21, and a man at the age of 25, but their children had to
continue in slavery. And so

[[Page H4234]]

the emancipation only freed slaves in the Confederacy, and did not free
slaves in the Union. And so, as I have indicated in New Jersey, there
were still slaves a year after the end of the Civil War in 1866.
The dignity of our Nation demands our recognition of this tragic part
of American history. I extend my highest respect and appreciation for
the contributions and struggles of African Americans to create an
equitable and just society from which we all benefit today.
I strongly support this resolution, and urge my colleagues to do the
same.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, thank you for bringing up this
important resolution to this floor today. And I yield myself such time
as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 272, which
recognizes the historical significance of the abolition of
transatlantic slave trade. It respects the memory of those who perished
as a result of slavery. It supports preservation of related historical
documents, and it urges greater education about this sad period in
history for both current and future generations.

{time} 1430

While addressing the Community of Democracies' opening plenary in
Chile on April 29, 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated:
``We at the Community of Democracies must use the power of our shared
ideals to accelerate democracy's movement to ever more places around
the globe. We must usher in an era of democracy that thinks of tyranny
as we thought of slavery today: a moral abomination that could not
withstand the natural desire of every human being for a life of liberty
and of dignity.''
While Secretary Rice's remarks were specifically on the promotion of
democracy around the world, she reminded us of a very unsettling fact.
Even 200 years after the abolition of the slave trade in the United
Kingdom and nearly 145 years after the Emancipation Proclamation in our
United States, slavery still exists in the modern world. It exists
through tyranny. It exists through oppression. It exists where human
rights and freedom are systematically repressed.
Secretary Rice's statement serves as a call to action for those of us
who would seek to break the shackles of tyranny and promote human
dignity around the world.
I appreciate the bipartisan fashion by which we have sought to heed
the Secretary's call and to recognize the significance of the abolition
of the transatlantic slave trade, as evidenced by our consideration
today of both this resolution by the Congresswoman from California (Ms.
Lee) and House Resolution 158, offered by the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts). Collectively, these resolutions remind us of
the courage and the fortitude of those who came before us to fight the
scourge of slavery, while helping us come to terms with our own
shameful past.
I believe that there would be no better way to respect the memory of
those forced to suffer under the horrors of the transatlantic slave
trade, or to honor those who dedicated themselves to its abolition,
than to stand together today in a bipartisan fashion and publicly
recommit ourselves to the eradication of slavery and the promotion of
human rights around the world.
Madam Speaker, I again thank you for bringing this important
resolution to the floor.
Madam Speaker, because I know that the gentleman from New Jersey and
the gentlewoman from California have many speakers on their side,
except for the 2 minutes that I would like to yield to the gentleman
from Indiana (Mr. Burton) to comment on this important resolution, I
yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Payne), and I ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control that
time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from New
Jersey will control the balance of the time except for 2 minutes.
There was no objection.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her generosity.
Madam Speaker, at this time I would like to yield 7 minutes to the
sponsor of the resolution, Representative Barbara Lee from the Ninth
District of California, member of the Committee on Appropriations.
Ms. LEE. Madam Speaker, let me thank the gentleman from New Jersey
for yielding and for your leadership, Mr. Payne, in making sure that
this resolution came to the floor today in a bipartisan way and also
for making sure that the history of African Americans, which, of
course, started during the Middle Passages, is told not only here on
the floor of Congress but in our public schools. So thank you very
much.
Let me thank our ranking member, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
and also Mr. Lantos for their leadership and for their assistance.
And let me take a moment to acknowledge our staff, because they have
worked very diligently. And not only do they work for us. They really
do believe in what we are doing, Madam Speaker: Kristin Wells, Pearl
Alice Marsh, Joan Condon, Genora Reed, and Ven Neralla from my office.
They have done remarkable work in a bipartisan fashion to get this
resolution to the floor.
This resolution, Madam Speaker, H. Res. 272, commemorates a very
somber and very serious occasion, the 200th anniversary of the
abolition of the transatlantic slave trade by the United Kingdom. Two
hundred years ago on March 25 in 1807, Great Britain abolished the
transatlantic slave trade in England and its colonies. This act began a
worldwide revolt against the trade of human beings by other European
nations.
This is a very important milestone because it represents the
beginning of the end of one of the most deplorable, deplorable chapters
in human history.
Madam Speaker, on several occasions, like many of my colleagues, I
have had the overwhelmingly heart-wrenching, and I mean heart-
wrenching, experience of traveling to the areas from where slaves were
captured and put on ships for that deadly passage to America from
Africa. And this is called, of course, the Middle Passage. One of my
most distinct memories was standing on several occasions at the ``doors
of no return'' in Ghana and in Senegal. Every slave castle has such a
door. This door represents so many things to me. At this door my
ancestors stood on the shores of their homeland for the last time in
their lives. At this door a fate awaited them that I wouldn't wish on
my worst enemy. And over 400 years later, there I was standing in the
doors as one of their descendants who survived and returned.
Standing in front of those doors, it is really impossible for me to
ignore the fact that those who walked chained through those doors laid
the foundation of many modern nations that have a colonial past,
including the United States of America.
The slave trade was vital to England and other European colonial
powers. It provided the basis for modern capitalism to take root,
generating immense wealth for business enterprises in colonial America
and Europe. In many ways the industrial strength of our Nation was
built on the blood, sweat, and tears of African American free labor.
Free labor. Today, this great country of ours, the United States of
America, reaps the fruits of labor of these enslaved Africans, and we
cannot forget that.
However, in spite of the considerable riches enslaved Africans
created for others, what the slave trade also represented was really
the lowest expression of humanity, and I mean the lowest expression.
Captured Africans were subjected to the worst forms of cruelty and
inhumanity. Millions were crammed in the hulls of slave ships like
sardines in a can. The stench of filth and death reeked from the ships.
Disease ran rampant through the ships. Traders used any means of
violence to subdue insurrection, including torture, mutilations, and
rape. The death rate during transport would reach as high as 50
percent. The world will never know really the exact number of enslaved
Africans transported to America, but it is estimated that between 10 to
15 million were brought here to the United States, making it the
largest forced migration in history.
Given its immense significance, it is unfortunate that the
transatlantic slave trade is a subject only briefly discussed in our
Nation's classrooms, and

[[Page H4235]]

the study of the transatlantic slave trade really, if you ask me,
should be a requirement for all of our public schools. It is essential
that we acknowledge how slavery created attitudes of racism that
persist in our society today.
Sadly, the legacy of the slave trade and slavery are with us to this
day. Just consider these facts: nearly one quarter of African Americans
in the United States live in poverty. African Americans have one of the
highest unemployment rates at 9.6 percent, and of the 46 million who
lack health insurance, about 20 percent are African American and many
of these are children.
Slavery may be over, at least legalized slavery may be over, but in
many ways the vestiges remain. That is why, Madam Speaker, it is
important that we are considering this resolution today. We must honor
the memory and the legacy and the courage of those who died in slavery
and those who worked to end it. But at the same time, we must use this
occasion to recommit ourselves to eliminating the disparities that
exist in our society. We must not let their sacrifices be in vain.
Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I would like to claim my 2
minutes, and then I will yield to my colleague.
First of all, let me just say that this is a very important
resolution. I don't think many people in America really understand or
remember all of the horrible things that occurred during the slave
trading that took place in the past.
There is a movie out right now that talks about the slave trade and
how horrible it was. It is called ``Amazing Grace.'' And I don't tout
movies very much, but I would submit to all of my colleagues they ought
to go see that movie. It is about William Wilberforce, who has been a
hero of mine for a long time since I was a State legislator, and he led
the fight in England to abolish slave trading; and it took him, I
think, 18 years to get it done. But he was a real crusader for the
rights of man and for the ending of slave trading.
So I would say to my colleague, Ms. Lee, I think this is a great bill
you introduced. I whole heartedly support it, and I hope everybody in
this House will. And as I said before, we ought to remember the
horrible fight, the great fight that took place in ending slavery in
England and in subsequent years.
So this is a great resolution. I really appreciate your bringing it
forward.
And I hope everybody will remember William Wilberforce and the fight
he made to end slavery and slave trading in England.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from New Jersey will control
the remainder of the time, and there are 23\1/2\ minutes remaining in
this debate.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from
Texas, Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, chairman of the
Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Water Resources and
Environment.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, let me say thanks
to Mr. Payne and Ms. Lee for bringing this forth.
I rise today in support of this resolution to commemorate the 200th
anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
This anniversary marks a significant moment in not only American
history but the history of the world. For 300 years the transatlantic
slave trade represented one of the most horrific periods in the history
of human events. During this time, 12 million Africans were captured
and brought to America as slaves. Millions more did not survive this
horrific trip overseas, which could have lasted as long as 3 months.
These individuals forcibly gave their lives and freedom to build the
economic future of America, which includes this Capitol.
While nothing can replace lives or freedom, it is important to
acknowledge that the consequences of slavery still exist. While 200
years may have passed since the end of the transatlantic slave trade,
the legacy of racism still persists. Today we take a step forward in
healing those wounds by recognizing the past and acknowledging the
impact it still has on our Nation.
I would like to thank Representative Lee for writing this and
bringing it forth. Because all too often, we think nobody remembers but
us, those who still suffer from this horrific period in our history.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
North Carolina, Representative G. K. Butterfield, the vice chairman of
the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality.
Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Madam Speaker, I also want to thank the gentleman
from New Jersey, my friend Congressman Donald Payne, for his tireless
efforts on behalf of the continent of Africa and other related issues.
I also want to thank the gentlewoman from California for her work on
this resolution. And, hopefully, we will pass this resolution and move
forward with greater work of this Congress.
Madam Speaker, this Nation has yet to fully come to terms with and
recognize the institution of slavery that existed in this country for
so long. Slavery is perhaps the most underrecognized crime against
humanity in the history of the world.
Madam Speaker, I am often asked about my light complexion. Some
people do it out of curiosity and it does not offend me, but I am often
asked about my complexion. It is a fact that I am indeed an African
American. My great-grandmother was a slave.

{time} 1445

And my great grandfather was the slave master. And my situation is
not unique. The enslavement of millions of people who were taken from
the west coast of Africa still affects millions of Americans today.
I represent the First Congressional District of North Carolina. My
area of the country was one of the destinations of the slave trade. My
congressional district today suffers from the effects from slavery. My
constituents, half of whom are African American, suffer from
disparities across the spectrum. I can trace directly these conditions
to the fact that their foreparents were legally denied citizenship and
the benefits of citizenship. Even after slavery ended, the United
States continued to disrespect black citizens and forced them to endure
inferior schools, health care, income and the like.
In my hometown of Wilson, North Carolina, my mother did not have
access to a public education beyond the sixth grade. Had she lived in
the rural area of my county, she would not have had the benefit of any
education, save only a token opportunity offered by black churches.
When my mother left the sixth grade, she was given an opportunity to
move to another city to get an education, and it made a difference. She
returned to our home community and became a teacher for 48 years and
instilled in my generation the importance of education. There were
hundreds of thousands who were denied educational opportunities, and
their descendants today continue to suffer.
Madam Speaker, we have a tremendous responsibility as a Nation to
remedy past wrongs. This resolution commemorating the 200th anniversary
of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade is a step in the
right direction. We must do more. Poverty is pervasive. This Congress
must set the tone and begin the process of healing and remedy the
cruelty of slavery and racial discrimination.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from
the 11th District of New York, Representative Yvette Clarke, a member
of the Commerce and Small Business Committee.
Ms. CLARKE. Thank you very much to Representative Payne and to the
gentlelady from California.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 272, a resolution
commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the
transatlantic slave trade.
The abolition of the trade was an important milestone in the fight
against slavery, but that campaign continued throughout the 19th
century and it still continues today.
Currently, 27 million people are held in slavery around the world.
Like the slaves of the past, slaves of today are controlled by
violence, and suffer the theft of their labor and humanity.
Our commemoration today rings hollow if we do not learn from the
lessons of the abolition movement of the past. That botched
emancipation of 1865

[[Page H4236]]

forced four million ex-slaves into the economic social society with no
access to education, political participation or equal citizenship, nor
a true recognition of their humanity.
As I reflect on my own history as a descendant of African slaves who
were survivors of the Middle Passage, my ancestors, kidnapped,
brutalized and brought to the island Nation of Jamaica West Indies
where centuries later my parents were born, who then migrated as
subjects of the Queen to Brooklyn, New York, where I was born.
The history of Africans in the Americas has been suppressed as
evidenced by the lack of presence in our school's curriculums. Today,
we see the results of granting freedom without dignity. People of
African descent still face economic inequality, social inequality and
racism.
Slavery can be brought to an end within our lifetime. Madam Speaker,
it is my prayer that someday soon this body will be celebrating of the
global eradication of slavery. And in the spirit of the liberation and
suffrage of my ancestors, the Civil Rights movement, human rights for
every man, woman and child will be recognized. The liberty and the
dreams of all will be attained through their collective will will not
go unnoticed. We are not going to achieve true liberty unless and until
we all embrace our collective and diverse humanity together.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from the
Seventh District of Illinois, chairman of the Oversight and Government
Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the
District of Columbia, Representative Danny K. Davis.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.
Res. 272, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the
transatlantic slave trade. I also rise in honor of my forefathers and
foremothers who were captured through raids and kidnappings, sold to
Europeans and subjugated to four and a half centuries of the
transatlantic slave trade.
The transatlantic slave trade is sometimes called ``Maafa,'' meaning
``holocaust'' or ``great disaster'' in Kiswahili by African and African
American scholars because it resulted in a vast loss of life for
African captives both in Africa and in America. It is believed that 50
percent of African deaths, 10 million, occurred in Africa as a result
of wars between native tribes. 4.5 percent, around 900,000 deaths,
occurred in large forts called factories. Around 2.5 million Africans
died during voyages through the infamous Middle Passage, where they
were packed into tight, unsanitary spaces on ships for months at a
time.
While estimates of the number of slaves brought to North America vary
from a few hundred thousand to a few million, the slave population in
the United States had grown to 4 million by the 1860s. From the latter
18th century, and possibly before that even, until the Civil War, the
rate of natural growth of North American slaves was much greater than
the population of any nation in Europe and was nearly twice as rapid as
that in Europe. In North America, the treatment of slaves was very
harsh and inhumane. Whether laboring or walking about in public, slaves
were regulated by legally authorized violence. On large plantations,
slave overseers were authorized to whip and brutalize noncompliant
slaves. Significantly, slave codes authorized, indemnified or even
required the use of violence and were denounced by abolitionists for
their brutality.
In the present phase of society, we must recognize the historical
significance of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the
transatlantic slave trade to the world. More broadly, respect the
memories of those who gave their lives in the fight for freedom, and
make sure that no generations yet to come will ever experience this
kind of inhumane brutality.
And so I commend Representative Lee for introducing this resolution,
commend Representative Payne for his tremendous leadership in human
rights.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the
Representative from the Sixth District of California, Representative
Lynn Woolsey.
Ms. WOOLSEY. I want to thank Chairman Payne and Congressman Barbara
Lee for bringing this important issue before us today.
Madam Speaker, I rise as a cosponsor and in support of H. Res. 272,
which celebrates the end of what was one of the most horrific and
immoral human rights abuses in history, slavery.
The slave trade must be remembered. It has to be remembered for its
brutality, for its inhumane cruelty, and for the injustices that it
caused millions of families. I say families, because for every one of
the more than 12 million Africans forced from his or her homeland,
subjected to the Middle Passage, that terrifying journey on slave
ships, overwhelmed by disease and left in famine, every one of those
folks left a family behind in grief or they were separated by slave
traders. These human beings taken from their homeland and stripped of
their freedom suffered more than a loss of their humanity and of their
families, however; many times they lost their very culture, their
language, their religion and their true homeland.
It is important to remember that many of those captured in the slave
trade did not survive the journey. Indeed, for every 100 slaves who
reached the new world, another 40 died in Africa or during the Middle
Passage.
This resolution, H.R. 272, is important because it recognizes the
injustices of the transatlantic slave trade and the historical
significance of its abolition. In order to come to terms with slavery
and the impression of black Americans in our past, it is also important
that we acknowledge not only the historical events of the slave trade
and of slavery, but also its legacy, its lasting effects on the lives
of every single American.
We see even today the long-term consequences of slavery in the
persistent inqualities between black and white Americans, the economic
disparities, poverty rates, and the discrimination that still lives in
our country today. Educating and teaching future generations about the
historical wrongs of the slave trade can help because it could help
prevent such crimes against humanity in the future, but it will also
identify many forms of slavery that still exist, forms that we pretend
aren't there.
So I urge my colleagues, support H.R. 272.
Mr. PAYNE. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from the 18th District
of Texas, Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee, chairwoman of the Homeland
Security Subcommittee on Transportation, Security and Infrastructure
Protection.
(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise
and extend her remarks.)
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Let me thank the distinguished gentleman
from New Jersey, the chairman of the Africa Subcommittee on the Foreign
Affairs Committee. I thank the author and sponsor of this legislation,
it is historic. And certainly, I thank the ranking member of the full
committee for her leadership and presence here on the floor today and
our full committee Chair.
This is a day that really emphasizes the long and diverse history of
this Nation. It is a day that I hope that members of this body will
unanimously pass this legislation, H. Res. 272.
Certainly, the historic aspect of it has already been noted, some 10
million to 15 million Africans were transported as slaves across the
Atlantic. It does not, however, add all of the history when you look at
the broadness of this question of slavery and America. What it really
did to America was carve out this issue of race. And Judge Higgenbotham
made it very clear as he rendered decisions on segregation and
separation, that in this Nation, race matters. This historical
perspective now puts all of this horrible legacy in place, and it does
so as America. It does so, it speaks to America about the horribleness
of the slave trade. It adds that this was not a very positive part of
America's history, but it is part of America's history. It does so in
the backdrop of the commemoration of the 400th year of Jamestown, 1607.
And the first slaves that came over were actually from Angola. The
person who fought against the slaves who were being taken was a woman
warrior of the tribes in that part.
Just a few weeks ago, I saw the reenactment or the refilming, if you
will,

[[Page H4237]]

or the reshowing of Roots, the Alex Haley Roots, on TV1, interestingly
enough, a station and a company owned by an African American woman. And
it brought home again the fierceness of slavery, the violence of
slavery, and in fact, that these slaves were taken and violated and
abused. And those that came over and made it here were infected with
disease, they were suffering from rape and they had been brutalized.

{time} 1500

This is an important statement. But a more important statement is the
vestiges of slavery, and I am glad to have joined the Honorable
Congresswoman Barbara Lee and a number of others who went to South
Africa to the Conference on Racism, organized by the United Nations in
2001. That was a very, very important effort, and I am glad that
Members of Congress did not accept the administration's rejection of
going to that conference. It was vital for us to be there. It was a
vital part of the healing process, because it had to do with racism
around the world. In fact, we know today that slavery still exists
around the world.
So as we stand here today, we acknowledge the horribleness of the
slave history of this country, but we also condemn slavery that exists
today around the world, in parts of Asia, in parts of Africa, in parts
of South and Central America, in parts of all aspects of the world,
possibly even in Europe, where people are held against their will.
But the United Nations conference was to speak to the issue of
stamping out the vestiges of slavery, so that we could do it in unity,
so that we could respect each other for our dignity and for where we
have come from, our religious difference, our racial difference, even
our regional and country differences.
That is why this resolution is so important, because it says to the
world that the United States House of Representatives accepts and
acknowledges the wrongness of slavery, but we are going forward. We
also recognize the vestiges of slavery, and we must go forward to end
that separation on the basis of race. We must be able to say that race
matters in a positive way.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 272, commemorating
the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
When slavery was introduced into the European colonies in 1619, the
dark days that followed ignited the faith and hope of our ancestors
that one day their descendants would live in freedom and helped them
bear the unbearable burden of bondage. For over 300 years, the United
Kingdom and other European countries kidnapped and sold millions of
Africans into slavery; contemporary historians estimate that between
9.4 and 12 million Africans arrived in the new world. Although on March
25, 1807, the United Kingdom outlawed the African Slave trade by
passing the Slave Trade Abolition Act, the road to freedom was a
perilous one, and without Abolitionist movements, protests, and
opposition, would not have been realized.
Madam Speaker, it is important to commemorate this occasion so that
the world will not quickly forget the incorrigible injustices African-
Americans suffered as slaves and the humiliation and degradation they
bore when they were taken and adjudged to be real estate, the same
category as livestock, household furniture, wagons and goods.
Although slavery was long, vicious and arduous, African slaves were
instrumental in the economic development of this Nation and allowed
Europe and the United States of America to be built. Slaves were the
foundation of the country--today we recognize the end of this heinous
trade of human cargo. It was from the institutional slave trade of
Africans that the strong African-American people who have survived
despite racism and second class citizenship emerged in the United
States.
As we condemn the atrocities, human rights abuses, and modern-day
slavery worldwide, it would be hypocritical if we did not acknowledge
the history of the transatlantic slave trade and slavery that existed
not long ago in our country.
The end of slavery did not come to pass until 1865, when the United
States ratified the 13th amendment to the constitution. But the fight
for equality against injustices, though easier today, still carries on.
The consequences of the slave trade have been profound and the scars
that it produced still have not healed. The most serious legacy is the
endurance of racism in various forms that keep changing, but do not
seem to dissipate.
Madam Speaker, we are committed to overcoming this legacy and
assuring a just world society. The dignity of African-Americans demands
recognition of the tragic history of the slavery era. It is for that
reason that I rise in strong support of H. Res. 272, commemorating the
200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. I
urge all members to do likewise.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from
California (Ms. Solis), a member of the Committee on Energy and
Commerce.
Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman of our subcommittee,
and I stand in strong support of House Resolution 272.
As the daughter of immigrants, I understand very clearly what it
means when individuals are brought to a country either of their own
free will or against their will. In the case of Latin American
immigrants coming to this country, many fled because of poverty and
injustices, sometimes civil wars.
In the case of our brothers and sisters from Africa, many were
brought here as slaves and were indentured and never were paid for the
hard work that they provided. In fact, a large number, hundreds of
thousands, reside in the Caribbean and in Latin America. We are also
descendants of those individuals, and we should proudly proclaim that
we not forget that part of our history and that it go down and be noted
and that we do everything in our power to help educate future
generations about the injustices that exist, existed, and continue to
exist in this country now. Whether it be forced slave labor in our
sweatshops or whether it be the maquiladoras in Mexico or Central
America, there are many people who are still suffering from
enslavement.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman
from the 13th District of Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick), the chairperson of
the Congressional Black Caucus and a member of the Appropriations
Committee.
Ms. KILPATRICK. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Madam Speaker, I also want to thank my colleague, Congresswoman
Barbara Lee from the great State of California, for offering this
resolution, House Resolution 272, commemorating the 200th anniversary
of the end of the transcontinental slave trade for our country. Awesome
that it is, we thank the President who signed that proclamation and
that we began to work as one country with many ethnicities in our
country.
Slavery is a cruel, unusual, inhumane treatment. Many of us just
returned from overseas and were in the slave dungeons, and to see the
inhumane treatment that many of our ancestors felt then and some
vestiges of it today is awesome. But we are still here. We are still
here running businesses, contributing to America. We are still here
attending universities and in the Halls of this Congress of the United
States of America.
We have much work to do, 200 years, and we hope thousands of years
from now, because, you see, Africans brought the gifts of civilization,
religion and science to the world, documented in anthropological
studies, the first man.
So it's unfortunate but it's past, chattel slavery, but we have much
work to do. We need better schools. We have got to be the best that we
can be, first class, no exceptions, and we accept that responsibility.
To my young sisters and brothers across this Nation of all ethnic
persuasions, rise up and be the very best that you can be. Never let
anyone take the intellect, the intelligence or the mastery that God has
given you to be the very best. Slavery is an abominable crime that we
must never have again for any race of people, and in vestiges around
the world, we see pockets of it.
But we rise today to support House Resolution 272, and to ask as
Americans and people of the world that we build together a stronger
America, where people have access to quality education that helps us to
compete with the Chinas and the Taiwans and the Indias of the world,
that we rise as a Nation of Americans and that we never again forget
that all people are created by one God known by many names.
So I stand here as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, one of
435 Members of this Congress, one of 43 members of the Congressional
Black Caucus, to say to America, we are still the best country in the
world. We still have a lot to achieve, and as we improve our schools,
as we invest our

[[Page H4238]]

moneys, this $3 trillion budget that we have in this country, make sure
that this Congress, this administration, the people rise up to have a
fair immigration policy, to have fair schools that are funded, that are
technologically sound to compete.
And we pledge to you as African Americans, we will produce young
people and others who are rising up, owning their own businesses, doing
what we need to do to do our part so that our children know that we are
the best, we intend to be the best, and we want the doors of
opportunity to stay open so that access will be there.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, let me thank the gentlelady from California once
again. As she said, we hope that the history will be integrated into
our textbooks. In New Jersey, I am proud to say, William Payne,
assemblyman, passed Amistad legislation that will integrate the history
of African Americans in the history of New Jersey. Our current Member
of Congress, Albio Sires, was the Speaker of the Assembly when that
great legislation was brought through with his assistance.
When we read about Patrick Henry, who said, ``Give me liberty or give
me death,'' or Nathan Hale, who said ``I regret that I only have one
life to give for my country,'' we will read about Crispus Attucks, the
first person killed in the Revolutionary War on March 3, 1770. We will
read about Peter Salem and Salem Poor at the Battle of Bunker Hill,
that fired the shot. They said, ``Don't fire until you see the whites
of their eyes.'' They killed Major Pitcairn, who led the Boston
Massacre.
When we hear about the Civil War, 50 percent of the Navy were African
Americans, once Frederick Douglass convinced President Lincoln to allow
them.
In the Spanish-American War, as I conclude, we hear about the Rough
Riders of Teddy Roosevelt, but it was the Buffalo Soldiers at the
Battle of San Juan Hill that saved the Rough Riders of Teddy Roosevelt
from annihilation, which has been kept from our history.
I could go on and on, but since the time has expired, at another time
I will hope to be able to get through World War I and World War II and
to the present time.
Mr. HONDA. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 272, a
resolution offered by my fellow Californian Representative Barbara Lee
to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the elimination of the
transatlantic slave trade. I commend my colleague for introducing the
resolution and I am proud to be a co-sponsor.
As Chair and Founder of the Congressional Ethiopian American Caucus,
I am particularly interested in the history of the African Diaspora. My
experience has taught me that the history of the Diaspora is as complex
and divergent as the communities themselves. Our challenge is to
educate ourselves about the Diaspora and to understand how African
Americans embrace and explore their heritage.
To tell the story of African immigration to the United States, we
have a moral and cultural obligation to acknowledge the transatlantic
slave trade. Today, the House is recognizing an important milestone in
world history by considering H. Res. 272, Commemorating the 200th
Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. On March
25, 1807, the transatlantic slave trade was abolished by the British
Parliament, and the United States Government followed suit a year
later. The transatlantic slave trade was the largest forced migration
in the world history, and it accounted for nearly 12,000,000 people
transported in bondage from their African homelands to the Americas.
On this day, we pay our respects to those who died as a result of
slavery, including through exposure to the horrors of the Middle
Passage and in resistance to enslavement. As the resolution notes, the
slave trade and its legacy continue to have a profound impact on social
and economic disparity, racism and discrimination, and continue to
affect people of African descent today. As a Nation we must move beyond
telling the story about this crime against humanity, to empowering
current and future generations to take action against the political and
economic structures that impede our social progress.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to develop policies that
will repair the damage that resulted from the devastating practice of
transatlantic slave trade, and I urge my colleagues to support this
resolution commemorating its abolition.
Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I stand before you today
in support of H. Res. 272, drafted by my colleague Representative
Barbara Lee from California. I would like to thank her for her
leadership on this issue in recognition of this important part of our
shared history.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the end of the transatlantic
slave trade. In 1807 the United Kingdom outlawed slavery recognizing
that the African slave trade and all manner of dealing and trading in
the purchase, sale, barter, or transfer of slaves from any part of the
coast or countries of Africa was unlawful and thereby abolished.
The transatlantic slave trade conducted the capture of Africans,
mostly from West Africa, for the purpose of enslavement in the colonies
that would become the United States, during the 15th and late 19th
centuries.
The Middle Passage was the forced migration through overseas
transport of millions of Africans to the Americas, many of whom
suffered abuses of rape and perished as a result of torture,
malnutrition, disease and resistance in transit. Those who survived
this perilous journey were sold into slavery.
More than 12,000,000 Africans were transported in bondage from their
African homelands to the Americas, and an estimated 1,200,000 men,
women, and children born in the Americas were displaced in the forced
migration that was the domestic slave trade.
It is important to acknowledge that as a result of the slave trade
approximately 80,000,000 to 150,000,000 persons of African descent live
in Latin America and the Caribbean, making them the largest population
of persons of African descent outside of Africa.
The transatlantic slave trade is characterized as the largest forced
migration in world history.
The institution of slavery which enslaved Africans, their progeny and
later generations for life was constitutionally and statutorily
sanctioned by the Government of the United States from 1789 through
1865.
Slavery in the United States during and after British colonial rule
included the sale and acquisition of Africans as chattel property in
interstate and intrastate commerce. However their presence in southern
states posed a problem for representation when the Union solidified.
The Great Compromise of 1787 declared that the enslaved Africans would
be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of
representation in the House of Representatives as not to give undue
representation to southern states.
The slavery that flourished in the United States constituted an
immoral and inhumane dispossession of Africans' life, liberty, and
citizenship rights and denied them the fruits of their own labor. The
enslaved Africans in the colonies and the United States suffered
psychological and physical abuse, destruction of their culture,
language, religion, and families.
I am disappointed that this body has been slow to act on the
resolution denouncing slavery and offering an official apology to the
descendants of slaves and the African American community. The 2001
World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and
Related Intolerance, held in Durban, South Africa, declared the slave
trade and slavery a crime against humanity. The world recognizes the
magnitude of this atrocity so why can't we make this simple step
towards reconciliation?
The slave trade and the legacy of slavery continue to have a profound
impact on social and economic disparity, hatred, bias, racism and
discrimination in the United States.
I urge my colleagues to support this and other legislation that
serves to educate and increase awareness of the history of the slave
trade and its impact on American culture.
Mr. PAYNE. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) that the House suspend the rules
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 272, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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