"It is incumbent upon each of us not just to right the wrongs of history, but to get history right.”

Rep. James Clyburn

Sept. 21, 2005, at the unveiling of the portrait of Joseph H. Rainey


The Capitol’s message as the symbol of freedom and representative government continues to have meaning for African Americans. From the 1995 Million Man March to the honoring of Rosa Parks in 2005, events at the Capitol focus national attention.

The history of the United States is incomplete without the history of African Americans, and the history of the Capitol is incomplete without the story of the enslaved African American workers who helped to build the Temple of Liberty.

To “get history right,” Congress adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution 130 on October 24, 2000, to create a task force to determine “an appropriate recognition for these slave laborers which could be displayed in a prominent location in the United States Capitol.”