Rep. John Lewis sponsored the measure that acknowledges that slave labor was used to build the U.S. Capitol. If Rep. John Lewis and others get their way, maybe U.S. History will get a second chance at inclusion.  In a resolution which is now on its way to the Senate, the House of Representatives took a clear stand and acknowledged the use of slave labor in the construction of the U.S. Capitol.  Passage of the measure by both bodies will not create an activist rush to reprint high school textbooks or change the curriculum of the local education body, but it will provide those who make the Capitol tour with credible history of its construction.

The resolution would direct the Architect of the Capitol to place a marker in Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center to commemorate the slave laborers who contributed to the construction of the U.S. Capitol Building. The measure sponsored by Lewis, (D-Ga.), passed with a 399 to 1 vote, with one Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa. This is not the first time that similar measures have been before the body of legislators.  But it is significant, “It is fitting that the history of Capitol’s construction be accurately told to include recognition of the African-American slaves who struggled to erect this massive building brick by brick, stone by stone,” said CBC Chair Barbara Lee, D-Calif. “By properly recognizing the contributions of those slaves who built the Capitol, we bring all Americans closer to an understanding of the continuing evolution of our democracy.”

Although there has been documented evidence of the involvement of slave labor in the construction of the U.S. capital, there has been a continuing fight regarding its acknowledgement.  For some the admission or acknowledgement fuels the fire for those who have called for reparations.  And even now there are Democrats opposing the current language of the measure, because they believe the current language will undermine the efforts of the reparation fight.

Randall Robinson, founder and president of TransAfrica in his crusade to gain recognition and reparations for the works of former slaves, wrote in his book, The Debt: What America Owes to Black America, “This was the house of Liberty, and it had been built by slaves.  Their backs had ached under its massive stones…They had been paid only in the coin of pain.  Slavery lay across American history like a monstrous cleaving sword, before the Capital of the United States steadfastly refused to divulge its complicity, or even slavery’s very occurrence.