[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 25, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2500-S2501]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING THE ROLE OF ENSLAVED AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE 
                      CONSTRUCTION OF THE CAPITOL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Rules 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 53 and 
the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res 53) authorizing a plaque commemorating 
     the role of enslaved African Americans in the construction of 
     the Capitol.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be 
laid on the table en bloc, and that any statements be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 53) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                               S. Res. 53

       Whereas enslaved African-Americans provided labor essential 
     to the construction of the Capitol;
       Whereas enslaved African-Americans performed the 
     backbreaking work of quarrying the stone which comprised many 
     of the floors, walls, and columns of the Capitol;
       Whereas enslaved African-Americans toiled in the Aquia 
     Creek sandstone quarry in Stafford County, Virginia and in a 
     marble quarry in Montgomery County, Maryland to produce the 
     stone that would be used in the Capitol;
       Whereas the marble columns in the Old Senate Chamber and 
     the sandstone walls of the East Front corridor remain as the 
     lasting legacies of the enslaved African-Americans who worked 
     the quarries;
       Whereas enslaved African-Americans also participated in 
     other facets of construction of the Capitol, including 
     carpentry, masonry, carting, rafting, roofing, plastering, 
     glazing, painting, and sawing;
       Whereas enslaved African-Americans labored on the Nation's 
     Capitol while they, themselves, were not free;
       Whereas the contributions of enslaved African-Americans in 
     the construction of the Capitol have not been acknowledged 
     nor adequately represented in the Capitol;
       Whereas no narrative on the construction of the Capitol 
     that does not include the contributions of enslaved African-
     Americans can fully and accurately reflect the history of the 
     Capitol; and
       Whereas recognition of the contributions of enslaved 
     African-Americans brings to all people of the United States 
     an understanding of the continuing evolution of democracy: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate authorizes and directs--
       (1) the Senate Commission on Art to procure an appropriate 
     plaque acknowledging the role of enslaved African-Americans 
     in the construction of the Capitol; and
       (2) that, under the direction of the Committee on Rules and 
     Administration of the Senate, the plaque shall be placed near 
     the original exterior wall that was constructed between 1793 
     and 1800 in the East Front corridor on the third floor of the 
     Senate wing of the Capitol.

[[Page S2501]]



                          ____________________