Elijah Lewis: “Mr. Speaker, when we walk through the halls of this building, we do not see anything that tells the story that…”

“Mr. Speaker, when we walk through the halls of this building, we do not see anything that tells the story that African-American slaves helped build this magnificent building: no drawings, no murals, no paintings, no statues, nothing. Slavery is part of our Nation's history of which we are not proud. However, we should not run away or hide from it. The history of the Capitol, like the history of our Nation, should be complete. As the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts) pointed out, it was not until this year, 200 years after the opening of the Capitol for the first session of Congress, that records were uncovered which prove what many of us have already known or maybe some of us assumed, that African-American slave labor was used in the building of the United States Capitol. These men, these slaves, laid the very foundation of our democracy. Yet, they were denied the right to participate in our democracy. Indeed, generations of their offspring were denied the right to vote. Mr. Speaker, with this resolution, H.R. 368, we will honor the slaves who helped build the Capitol.”