Liberating the Capitol’s dim history

When Sarah Jean Davidson came to the nation’s capital as a teenager at the height of the 1960s civil rights movement, she was unmoved by the historic buildings around her.

“When I looked at the Capitol, I had no connection,” said Davidson, now the president of a black history group in Arkansas.

Little did she know that an ancestor, enslaved in Virginia, may have helped build it.

The slaves who helped build the U.S. Capitol may finally be recognized for their contributions to one of the nation’s most cherished monuments to freedom and democracy -- values they themselves never fully enjoyed.

Lawmakers intend to bring these contributions to the foreground through an exhibit honoring slaves’ role in constructing the Capitol, from the bricks at its base to the bronze Statue of Freedom atop its dome.

“This Capitol, this symbol of our democracy, was not built overnight, not built by machines,” said Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the son of sharecroppers and a longtime leader in the civil rights movement. “Laborers, including African American slaves, struggled to erect this massive building brick by brick, stone by stone.”

Slaves were involved in almost every aspect of the process, from quarrying stones to moving large blocks into place, said Felicia A. Bell, director of education and outreach at the United States Capitol Historical Society. Pressure to quickly complete the building often forced slaves to work in sweltering summers and frigid winters, leaving many exhausted, injured or dead.

“Imagine building this nation’s Capitol with your own two hands,” Lewis said. “Imagine, in Washington’s oppressive summer heat, to toil under the sun without the help of a crane, a lift or any of the modern tools we have today.”

Lewis led a congressional task force that on Wednesday recommended the installation of commemorative plaques and an exhibit at the Capitol reflecting on the experience of the era’s African American slave laborers and members of Congress. The task force, which reported to the House Administration Committee, also recommended training Capitol tour guides to present this history to visitors and designating the main gallery of the forthcoming Capitol Visitor Center “Emancipation Hall.”

“It is easy to forget, as we draft legislation with the goal of preserving and protecting our freedom, that the very floors and walls that surround us were constructed in part by those who knew no liberty,” said Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers of Michigan, the committee’s top Republican. “The recognition of slaves as an important part of the fabric of our nation’s history is long overdue.”

When George Washington outlined his vision for a new national capital, his expansive design did not consider the dearth of carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers and stonecutters in the sparsely populated Potomac basin, according to a report by William C. Allen, a historian for the office of the Architect of the Capitol.

To overcome these labor shortages, Bell said, commissioners overseeing the Capitol’s construction turned to farmers who hired out their surplus slave laborers to do temporary work. Payment generally went to the slave owners, not to the laborers.

Ledgers recording expenses for “Negro hire” at the Capitol document 385 payments of what amounts to $60 to $70 a year from 1795 to 1801, according to Allen’s report.

One newspaper advertisement sought “sixty strong, active NEGRO MEN” for work at a stone quarry. The notice said that good wages would be given and that laborers would be “well used and well fed.”

Operations at the quarries -- hauling, cutting and carving stone -- were backbreaking, Allen said. Quarries were on a snake-infested island, near areas swarming with mosquitoes during the summer.

Although its cornerstone was laid in 1793, the Capitol continued to be renovated and expanded throughout the 19th century. Workers mounted the Statue of Freedom in December 1862, months after Abraham Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Emancipation Act, which abolished slavery in the district.

To keep pace with construction plans, laborers often worked six days a week, 12 hours at a time, even during extreme weather.

Bell said that commissioners became alarmed by the number of workers seeking “constant attendance” by a physician, and, according to an 1822 newspaper article, a “free colored man” named Nathaniel Bowen died after being crushed by a block of stone intended for the Capitol’s dome.

The names and contributions of most slaves working on the Capitol were not recorded. One exception is Philip Reid, who helped cast the bronze Statue of Freedom. Purchased for about $1,200 for his “evident talent” working in a foundry, Reid received $41.25 for helping his owner finish one of the statue’s early casts.

Davidson is a member of the congressional task force, and she heads the Assn. for the Preservation of North Little Rock, Ark., African American History. She said that understanding the contributions of slaves in the Capitol’s construction was crucial for young African Americans who feel, as she once did, that they were not part of America’s institutions.

“If the young people can see the connection, that we’re all one and we’re not separate, you wouldn’t have the situation like you have in Jena Six,” said Davidson. She was referring to the recent controversial prosecution of six black teenagers in Jena, La., after the beating of a white classmate.

Lewis said he would look to Congress to provide enough resources to implement the task force recommendations.

“We look back today not to open old wounds but to ensure that we tell the story -- the complete story, the whole story -- of those slaves so their toils are never forgotten,” he said.

theo.milonopoulos@ latimes.com