Memorial eyed for slaves who helped build Capitol

[Coexist]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/memorialeyedforslavesw...

By Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY
1 hour, 53 minutes ago

<snip>
The statue crowning the U.S. Capitol is called "Freedom." Yet it was a black slave who figured out how to coax apart the 19½-foot, 15,000-pound plaster statue so it could be cast in bronze and rejoined atop the dome.

Slaves, in fact, helped build much of the building and grounds of Congress, their owners earning $5 per month for their work. Ed Hotaling, a retired TV reporter in Washington, was among the first to widely publicize this in a report in 2000.

<snip>
Reid was about 42, small in stature and respected for his work, according to C.R. Gibbs, a Washington historian. While working on the statue from 1860 to 1862, he figured out that by hooking a rope into an iron eye on its crown and instructing men to gently pull on it, the statue would come apart in its original sections, according to records at the Capitol.

<snip>
Hotaling discovered the history of the slaves while researching the 200th anniversary of the Capitol. "It was seeing history in the form of discarded old faded photostats lying on top of filing cabinets, and saying, 'My God, this is incredible. Why hasn't anybody done anything about it?' " Hotaling says.

...What an amazing story - they deserve a wonderful tribute.

[hedgehog]

1. This is the real black history that needs to be told.

I feel like Black History Month has become a joke. Instead of integrating out history books, black Americans are segregated to little sidebars. We know so much more now about the role of black Americans in American history, but you wouldn't know it if you picked up a history textbook. What about the roles of black troops in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War? My understanding is that blacks were critical to providing the manpower needed in the final critical years of both wars, but you'd never know it from the history books.

[MadMaddie]

7. Don't forget WWII

We had black soldier who also served nobly during the Great War!!

The Tuskegee Airman....
There was a black cook in Pearl Harbor who manned a machine gun as his ship was mortally wounded.....

And many more...

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. No, we need a Reagan Memorial first!

Just kidding...;-)

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. A whole lot of this country

was built with sweat from the black man.

A tribute would be most welcome. And a museum of African American history. It's time.

[Coexist]

5. Agreed. A National Museum of African American history

is an excellent idea.

[Bacchus39]

8. a site on the National Mall has just been chosen for the museum

http://nmaahc.si.edu/

[corporatemedia]

4. And Trent Lott is still sitting inside. Sad. nt

[Coexist]

6. isn't it. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

9. kicked/recommended n/t