[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 34 (Thursday, February 26, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2547-S2549]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




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

  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak on an issue 
I have certainly followed for many years now in the Senate and one I am 
proud to have brought to some conclusion along the way, particularly 
last evening.
  Many people look at history and see that when the Capitol was first 
built in the late 1700s to early 1800s, enslaved African Americans 
worked in all facets of its construction--carpentry, masonry, carting, 
rafting, roofing, plastering, glazing, painting, and sawing. But for 
almost 200 years, the story of these slave laborers was not told and 
was basically unknown, I would imagine to almost everyone who visited 
and worked in the Capitol every day.
  In July of 2000, I sponsored a resolution to establish a special task 
force to recommend an appropriate recognition for the slave laborers 
who worked on the construction of this great building--the U.S. 
Capitol--our symbol of freedom in this country. My cosponsor on this 
effort was then Senator Spencer Abraham from Michigan, and so the 
resolution became known as the Abraham-Lincoln resolution back then.
  The bicameral, bipartisan Slave Labor Task Force brought together 
historians and interested officials to work on this issue. One of those 
was Curtis Sykes, an educator and native of North Little Rock, AR, and 
an original member of Arkansas' Black History Advisory Committee. Mr. 
Sykes passed away before our work was complete, but he made so many 
important contributions to the task force before his

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passing. He was then ably succeeded by Ms. Sarah Jean Davidson, founder 
and president of the Association for the Preservation of North Little 
Rock, Arkansas African American History.
  I am so very grateful to these two individuals who have offered their 
insight and their expertise and their input to make sure that what we 
did here was done in a very special way in great recognition.
  In 2007, the task force presented the congressional leadership with 
recommendations on how to best recognize the contribution of these 
enslaved workers. The recommendations were developed with the 
invaluable assistance of a working group that included the historians 
and curators of the Senate, House, and Office of the Architect of the 
Capitol, representatives from the AOC Project Management Division, and 
representatives from the Capitol Visitor Center.
  Since then, we have been working so very hard to see that these 
recommendations are all realized. We have developed a history of slave 
laborers in the construction of the Capitol and put it online. We have 
ensured that the story of these slave laborers was incorporated into 
the CVC orientation video and Capitol tour guide training. We have seen 
the publication of a book on Black Americans in Congress, and we have 
seen the reception area of the CVC named Emancipation Hall.
  On Monday, I, along with my good friend and colleague Senator 
Chambliss, introduced a resolution to bring another recommendation to 
fruition. This resolution, which was approved by the Senate last night, 
authorizes a plaque to be placed in the Capitol, a plaque that 
identifies a very special feature of the Capitol. The original exterior 
wall of the Capitol was constructed between 1793 and 1807. The stones 
for that wall were mined by slave laborers in a sandstone quarry in 
Aquia Creek in Stafford County, VA.
  Quarrying stone was among the most difficult and backbreaking tasks 
in the building business. First, the land had to be cleared, then the 
top of the stone chipped away to reach the parts that had not been 
damaged by frost or vegetation. Then the stone would be further chipped 
to create a small cavity, just large enough for one man to work in. The 
men would work in these small cavities to cut grooves and hammer in 
iron wedges to split the stone to free it from the larger block. To 
make matters worse, the quarries were located on an isolated, snake-
infested island that swarmed with mosquitoes in the blazing summer and 
froze under snow in winter.
  Much of the original Capitol no longer stands, due to the fires of 
war and renovations to create more space. The original East exterior 
wall still exists, however, and is now part of the East Front Corridor. 
It is one of the few places where that original slave-quarried 
sandstone is still in evidence. The plaque would be placed near that 
wall, and would bear an inscription identifying the wall as having been 
built of sandstone quarried by enslaved African Americans who were an 
important part, a vital part of the labor force that built our great 
U.S. Capitol.
  Thanks to my Slave Labor Task Force colleague Congressman John Lewis, 
there will be a similar plaque on the House side of the East Front 
Corridor. These locations are important for another reason. They are on 
the route that visitors take to the Senate and House galleries. Mr. 
Sykes, as I mentioned earlier, the Arkansas historian with whom I 
worked, focused on the need to ensure that as many citizens as possible 
be made aware of this contribution of enslaved African Americans in the 
building of this great building, our Capitol. I wholeheartedly agree 
with Mr. Sykes. To me, education is at the heart of this effort. It 
would do no good to have a plaque that was hidden in a corner where no 
one would see it. It would do no good if we told the story of enslaved 
African Americans building the Capitol and no one heard it.
  A critical part of recognizing the work of the slaves is to make 
their story visible and accessible, so that future generations know and 
understand the sacrifices that have been made for the many blessings 
that we enjoy today, that those blessings that are capsulized in the 
very building in which we all work, that the freedoms and the rights 
that we enjoy, are capsulized in a building that had tremendous input 
from enslaved African Americans.
  I was recently in the new CVC and I hope, for those Members who have 
not been, they will go visit and certainly for those of our 
constituents who visit this great Capitol of the Nation, that they get 
a chance to visit the Visitors Center. I watched the faces of dozens of 
schoolchildren as their mouths opened up, dropped in awe at the sight 
of this vast and beautiful Emancipation Hall. Their eyes popped open 
wide as they looked through the skylight and saw this gorgeous view of 
the dome of the Capitol that represents who they are and the great 
Nation to which they belong.
  They were so excited about being there, and that excitement opened 
their minds to the lessons that would be taught to them, there in that 
visitors center--like the Statue of Freedom that was designed by an 
Italian and sent over here and yet could not be reconstructed until the 
ingenuity and the dedicated focus of, yes, an enslaved African American 
by the name of Philip Reid could figure out how to unhook the model 
that the Italians had sent us, cast it, and put it piece by piece back 
together. No one else could figure it out.
  As you walk into Emancipation Hall and you see this huge statue, the 
caste of the Statue of Freedom, what an unbelievable feeling it gives, 
not just to schoolchildren, but to any American who walks in there. How 
important for them to know of the ingenuity, the hard work, the labor 
that went into this incredible building.
  Through this effort I wanted to make sure that everyone who visits 
the Capitol leaves knowing the story of the people who helped to build 
it, a true symbol of freedom, at a time when they themselves were not 
free.
  I want to close, first, by saying again a very special thanks to my 
friend and colleague Senator Chambliss from Georgia who has worked with 
us on this resolution--we were so excited and pleased to see it pass 
last night--as well as the chairman of the Rules Committee, Senator 
Schumer, and the distinguished ranking member of the committee, Senator 
Bennett, for also sponsoring the legislation with Senator Chambliss and 
myself. They were all so good to work with on this resolution. I 
appreciate their efforts and emphasis on something I believe is very 
important, not just for the Capitol but for our entire Nation.
  I also want to publicly thank and recognize my good friend and former 
colleague Congressman John Lewis for his leadership on this project. He 
is an extraordinary human being. I have been grateful for the 
opportunity to work with him on this very important issue.
  I never will forget, when I arrived in the House of Representatives 
as a young single woman in 1993, Congressman Lewis invited a small 
group of us freshmen--it was the largest freshman class since the 
1940s, I believe--anyway, he invited us to come view some of his 
footage and film from days during the 1960s, and all of what he endured 
before that. It was amazing--the freedom ride, all of what he had 
experienced. It was a tremendous opportunity for me to get to know him 
better. I am grateful, again, for his extraordinary leadership.
  I hope everyone, as I said, will take the opportunity to go to the 
CVC if they have not already and take a look and hopefully burn in each 
of our hearts how important it is to remember every day when we come to 
this unbelievable building what it stands for; hopefully relighting and 
rekindling our ability to unite, to work together for the great things 
this wonderful Nation stands for. I appreciate so much everyone working 
together to make this possibility a reality. I am very excited.
  I thank my colleagues for their attention. I yield the floor to my 
good friend and colleague from Georgia.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia is recognized.
  Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise to speak in favor of S. Res. 53 
which commemorates the role of slaves in constructing the U.S. Capitol. 
What a great historical revelation and statement my colleague from 
Arkansas has made. This is one of those moments when the Senate has an 
opportunity to shine, because we have a chance to look back at 
historical facts that may

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not have been pretty, as we look back on it, but are a part of our 
history. I want to tell her how much I appreciate her leadership on 
this--not just this particular resolution, but on this overall issue. 
She has been a true champion. Her leadership in her caucus has meant an 
awful lot to a number of people, particularly those of us who come from 
the South.
  She mentioned my good friend John Lewis, my colleague, the dean of 
our delegation. What a great American John Lewis is. I have the 
opportunity every year at the Martin Luther King birthday celebration 
to take the podium with John Lewis at Ebenezer Baptist Church and to 
recollect and reminisce about some of those times that may not have 
been pleasant but, again, they are part of our history. John Lewis 
certainly lived that history and the great story of his contribution to 
America--his having gone through what he went through--is why we all 
have such admiration for him.
  It is one of the great, sad ironies of American history that the very 
foundation of this building in which we have debated essential 
questions of liberty and even decided who was free and who was not, was 
laid by those who wore shackles. We do not know that much about them. 
In the scant records that were kept, only a few first names survive 
next to those of their owners, and the sums paid for their backbreaking 
work. But we do know this. They toiled in the hot Sun and the cold wind 
in the quarries of Virginia and Maryland to unearth the stone upon 
which rests this temple of liberty.
  From 1793 to 1826, as many as 800 slaves at any one time painted, 
roofed, sawed, glazed, and perfected a building that represented a 
freedom that was never to be theirs and, in an irony of ironies, as the 
Civil War tore this country asunder over the very issue of human 
liberty, a slave laborer named Philip Reid cast the Statue of Freedom 
that now crowns this very building.
  Uncredited and unsung, slaves carved and polished the three-story-
high marble columns that grace Statuary Hall, a soaring backdrop where 
so many of us earlier this week debated and discussed the first 
congressional speech of this Nation's first Black President. How far we 
have come in this period of history in our country.
  We can never pay these laborers their due but we can, even belatedly, 
recognize their significant contributions.
  This resolution authorizes a plaque to be placed near the original 
East Front wall of the Capitol, one of the few places their handiwork 
is still visible, to acknowledge the role and contributions enslaved 
African-American laborers played in the evolution of this building and, 
by extension, this democracy.
  Again, I thank my colleague from Arkansas and commend her once again 
for her leadership. She and I have worked on so many issues in a strong 
and bipartisan way. Without her leadership we would not be here now.
  I thank all my colleagues for their unanimous approval of this 
resolution.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise today in support of Senator 
Lincoln's legislation to recognize the role of enslaved African 
Americans in the construction of the Capitol. Every day, America's 
lawmakers walk the marble halls of the U.S. Capitol, but we seldom 
reflect upon the struggles of those who constructed this esteemed 
building. America was founded on the idea that all of its people should 
be free, yet throughout our history, we have struggled against the 
influence of racism and ignorance. We cannot brush over the impact of 
slavery on the history of our Nation. By acknowledging the role of 
enslaved African Americans in the construction of the U.S. Capitol, we 
are one step closer to healing the racial wounds that remain in our 
society.
  Throughout America, children's textbooks are filled with information 
about the Founders of our Republic, but they mention little or nothing 
about the enslaved African Americans who helped build the Capitol. Many 
facts about the lives of these people are lost in history, but 
documents from the time help us put together a partial picture of what 
their lives were like. The enslaved African Americans who constructed 
this building were rented by the Government from their owners. Between 
1795 and 1801, more than 380 payments were made to slave owners for the 
use of their slaves in the construction of the Capitol. Slaves 
performed a variety of tasks, including mining, stone and timber 
sawing, bricklaying, and carpentry. They mined the stone used in 
constructing the section of the Capitol where this plaque will be 
displayed in the Aquia Creek sandstone quarry in Stafford County, VA, 
and the Montgomery County marble quarry in Maryland.
  Our Nation has made tremendous progress since the days when a slave 
was valued as three-fifths of a person, but though the days of slave 
auctions and forced servitude are behind us, our work is not finished. 
To date, only six African Americans have served in the U.S. Senate. 
America's first two African American Senators, Hiram Revels and Blanche 
Bruce, served the State of Mississippi in the 1870s. It was not until 
1967, nearly a century later, that America's third African American 
Senator, Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, came to Washington. Carol 
Moseley Braun of Illinois made history in 1993 when she became the 
first and only African American woman to serve in the Senate. In 2005, 
Barack Obama, also of Illinois, became the fifth African American to 
serve in the Senate, followed by Roland Burris.
  President Obama's inauguration this year stands as one of the 
greatest achievements in the history of civil rights in this country. 
Many doubted that the United States would ever elect an African 
American President, but I am certain that while President Obama is the 
first African American to win the Presidency, he will not be the last.
  Recognizing the role of enslaved African Americans in the building of 
the U.S. Capitol is important to coming to terms with our past and 
overcoming the tragic history of slavery in our Nation. This plaque 
stands as a reminder of how far we have come since the days of slavery 
and how far we still need to go.

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