Congress to Study Slaves Role in Capitol

[Kire]

Congress to Study Slaves Role in Capitol

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer Tue May 31, 4:01 PM ET

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Capitol was built with the labor of slaves who cut the logs, laid the stones and baked the bricks. Two centuries later, Congress has decided the world should know about this.

Congressional leaders on Tuesday announced the creation of a task force to study the history of slave labor in the construction of the Capitol and suggest how it can best be commemorated.

"It is our hope that the work of the task force will shed light on this part of our history, the building of our nation's greatest symbol of democracy," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and Democratic leaders Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) and Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) said in a joint statement.

Historians say slaves were the largest labor pool when Congress in 1790 decided to create a new national capital along the Potomac surrounded by the two slave-owning states of Maryland and Virginia.

<snip>

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (news, bio, voting record), D-Ark., a task force member, said lawmakers became aware of the use of slaves after researchers in the late 1990s found documents of Treasury Department payments to slave owners. She said there apparently were more than 400 slaves hired out.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050531/ap_on_go_co/capitol_slaves

[RoyGBiv]

1. It's about time ...

But, it really irritates me that these kinds of things are framed such that it looks like Congress or some politician is actually responsible for it. Historians, social scientists, and those who follow their work have been working for years to force recognition of the manner in which DC was built. Until relatively recently, the US Congress has turned a deaf hear to all of it except for a few individuals like Jesse Jackson, Jr. who have been working on this and other projects related to historial memory for years.

[Yupster]

2. Politicians taking credit for other

people's work?

I've never imagined such a thing.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Yeah ...

It's shocking, I know. :-)

[JacobPike]

4. Watch

10-1 the current congress will declare it justifiable.