[lbo-talk] Congress to Study Slaves' Role in Capitol

[B.]

Who would have thought that between the work of the
French architect Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the
black draftsman Benjamin Banneker, and the labor of
hundreds of black slaves, such a monument to
Anglocentric Francophobia could have been built?

-B.

Congress to Study Slaves Role in Capitol

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

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.

More at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/capitol_slaves;_ylt=Agsy9jb1RGj9ljXcbEYFTdcDW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl