Did anyone know that African American slaves built the U.S Capitol and the White House?

Question

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, and the White House

Answer 1

Slaves were responsible for many, many, many significant contributions to our country from fighting in our early wars to being a cornerstone of the economy. It's sad looking back knowing they could not benefit from their own labor and ingenuity. Thankfully now all can benefit..some more than others, it's not a perfect balance yet, but it will be in time.

Answer 2

Well done for this statement or facts. These are the kind of facts which needs to be taught in schools so that people in general do not forget about their history. Also this way respect is given to those who have earned it. I came across a question on this site which asked something like what have black people done to contribute to the modern world? This tells you that people don't know what they are supposed to know and this in itself is bad because it leaves certain people with false perception about themselves or their race. Why the need to hide the truth? because even in chains with no food and water blacks did wonderful things. Why does the schools omit teaching black history? A lot of people did not even know that black people were present in England as far back in the 1600's. Could it be that black people are actually superior because they have survived in all conditions that they are subjected to. What is it that made black history become untold stories in the school curriculum? What is the fear?
'To play the piano one can play the white notes or the black notes but ro achieve perfect harmony one must play both the black and the white' Hense the Achimota Crest by Dr K Aggrey of Ghanaian history.

Answer 3

To Wyatt: The White abode has been rebuilt two times. After the conflict of 1812 and then in the process Truman's administration. in the process that 2nd rebuilding, it grew to become into thoroughly gutted, and all the wood framing grew to become into replaced with steel I-beams. Then, they recreated the rooms -- even the Lincoln mattress room. They stored the paneling, and so on., yet lots of the interior the White house is quite new.

Answer 4

I did know that by watching The West Wing tv show.

I think African Americans should be proud of this fact and I think all of us should take a lesson on what can be accomplished under pressure.

Of course slavery is a horrible thing that should never ever have happened but in this particular example we see creativity in the face of adversity. I think we can all learn from that.

Answer 5

The Egyptians built the pyramids,Bryants built most of The Midlands,Irish navvies built nearly all the canal waterways in Gt Britain.Noah built the Ark Henry Ford built the Model T.

Answer 6

For the sake of historical accracy, let me state that it is useful to talk of slavery everywhere , rather than black slavery in the United States. True, that everything we call the American civilisation WAS produced by the African workers {they called them slaves!!}. The great cotton fields were worked by the, coal mines and railroads had their share of black workers. Is worth knowing , however, that although the slaves contributed physical labour, the projects they worked at were engineered by the people who disigned them.They were, in a sense, master builders, who designed planned and executed the activities.
It is also worth noting that at the base of all civilisations, from Babylon, Egypt, China, Mexican, Indus etc workers performed at the brutal behest of the masters. It is absolutely correct to say that the whole superstructure of everything un the past , we owe to the wprkers -most of whom worked on pain of punishmment and torture for non-compliance of authorities' orders.
The suprising thing is that even today in these times of human rights and personal freedom it is the workers that build the world. And what of the great factories and farms and worksops? And what of the socalled phenomenon of our own times - globalisation?
Workers everywhere are the foundation of production - whether it is the construction of mighty structures or canals or huge reservoirs holding back millions of tonnes of water inside them- they are all done by workers - the modern-day slaves. Continuous creatio of wealth and its distribution have given them strength to hold their heads and ask for more!

Answer 7

Democracy and Communisam both were built on the suffering of workers as slaves.In Russia(old USSR) it was labour camps.In China they built up on 24 hours work of labourers under Mao.Mangols suffered a lot.So past is past.Nothing can be done.Prosperity is at the price of hard work.

Answer 8

Yes.

But why whenever 'black' people do anything, especially stuff done in history, it is mainly met with sneering or out and out ridicule esp from peeps in the UK?

Or it is met with words such as, yeah? so? but? Or peeps are subject to a series of anecdotes of what EVERYONE ELSE in history had done supposedly similar in terms of who else suffered or gave out abuse?

Why cannot the question be accepted for what it is?

The worst is slavery should be forgotten or that 'blacks' should move on.

Slavery is a very long and deep subject. There is still no world platform yet given to the descendants of slaves and all other interested parties to talk on in depth as far as I am aware. Yet there are people who believe that 'blacks' should move on. Would you tell an abused adult to do that as easily? No. But 'blacks' were abused but as of yet there has been no real/proper time for healing.

That is because recently and some would say even now, the abuse continues with the intervention of colonialism and harsh discriminatory laws. Oh yeah and racism.

Yeah you still have some whites who believe their word is law and the last word in everything.

There is also the place they call 'Australia'. What of the 'aborigines'?


This is how the legacy of slavery still exist and why 'blacks' cannot 'forget' or 'move on'.



**To the questioner: For the record is the sense of wonderment that 'blacks' could possibly "figured out how to coax apart the 19ft, 15,000 pound plaster statue ... " etc that is remarkable or what?

Answer 9

Hello Donna, I am not surprised African people are no different from white people and some of them are very clever.
Do you know that it was a black Doctor Dr Charles Drew who discovered how to separate blood from plasma and saved thousands of lives of casualties during the last war?Dr Drew was African American.
Good Luck Donna and be proud of your race.

Answer 10

No, I didn't know that. I'm not surprised, being as Washington is a Southern city and it was built in the late 1700's, early 1800's. A great deal of the infrastructure of this country was built by slaves and later immigrants.

Thank you for a new and interesting fact. I gave you a star. :-)