worst hard time happened. similarly in the fire that korda lanes, the native people in the spokane's and the kalispell and the flatheads had all lived in silver valley in the country and western montana, so they were not consulted. it is interesting, if i had a treat in my backyard that was invested with something i could go to my neighbor and say, how do you treat this? he would have somebody who knew what it was like. these were brand-new towns, so the indians-- to lasky was lassie was close to the natives. ..

>> anyway, thanks for your question. i think i'll have to close it out. i appreciate it, folks. [applause] >> thanks for attending this session. we hope you enjoyed it, we can tell that you did. timothy egan will be autographing books immediately following this session many the madden media signing area 1, tent b, that's located south and just west of the student union along the mall walkway.

books are available at the signing area. last but not least, if you are enjoying the festival and are interested in being a friend of the festival, you can go to the formation booths on the mall or online at our web site. thanks again for your support. [inaudible conversations] >> we're concluding today's live coverage of the tucson festival of books. booktv will continue live coverage tomorrow beginning at 1 p.m. eastern. >> jesse holland presents a history of slave labor used to build the u.s. capitol and the

white house. mr. holland discusses his book at the moultrie court houston here in -- courthouse here in washington for about an hour. [applause] >> good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> thank you all for coming out today to hear me talk about some of the history of our great city here of washington d.c. hopefully, everyone here has dug themselves out of the blizzard by now. we were a little delayed in the program because of that, but i'm so glad to see so many of you here today to hear about some of the history of washington d.c. now, i'm going to start a little bit by telling you why this book exists. i first came to washington, d.c. in 2000 as a congressional correspondent for the associated press. after spending several years in columbia, south carolina, and albany, new york. now, i am originally from

mississippi, the son of two public school teachers. and being from mississippi, the one thing my parents made sure i knew was my history. it's almost a state requirement in mississippi to know where you came from. so when i left mississippi to go to south carolina, i took along this desire to know history. and i studied the history of south carolina. i did the same thing when i went to upstate new york. i got involved in learning the african-american history of upstate new york. which, by the way, is very vibrant. a lot of the underground railroads ended in upstate new york. so they have a very vibrant african-american community and history up there.

but when i left albany, new york, to come to washington, d.c., i knew i was hitting the mother load. washington, d.c., i knew, had to have a strong african-american history component to it. i came to d.c. and immediately began working in the u.s. capitol. and like all tourists, the very first thing i did when i came to washington, d.c. was to take a tour of the national mall. but when i got there, i noticed something. if you just came to washington, d.c. and just went to the national mall, you would almost believe african-americans never lived in this city. i went from one end of the mall to the other from the capitol all the way down to the lincoln memorial looking for the

african-american history of washington d.c. and i could barely find anything. and i said to myself, that can't be true. i know there's african-american history in this city. it has to be african-american history on the national mall. maybe no one's bothered to sit and find out what it is. and that's how h book came about. starting this the u.s. capitol capitol -- starting in the u.s. capitol, i made it my goal to find out what the african-american history of the national mall was. and this book is the result. and i'm going to take a few minutes here today to talk to you about some of the things i discovered not only about the national mall, but about washington, d.c. as a city. some things that i hope interest you and maybe inspire some of

you to go out and find some of this history for yourselves. so i'm going to be at the mercy of technology here, so we'll see if i can get this to work. now, one of the first things i did when researching this book was to look at washington, d.c. as a whole. for years and years and years, washington, d.c. was a majority african-american city. i think the numbers are changing right now, but for a long time washington, d.c. was an african-american majority city. so the question came to me, there are hundreds of statues in the city limits of washington, d.c. sitting on public property. some of these statues had to be of african-americans, i just knew. and so i started looking around the city and trying to find out

how many statues are there of real african-americans on public land in washington, d.c.? now, i wanted to be specific about what i'm talking about. i am talking about statues of real african-americans. not models. for example, there are statues of african-americans in the korean war memorial. however, these are models. these are statues meant to represent all african-americans. who fought in the korean war. no one can look at this picture and say, that's my uncle jimmy. this is just a model. so we're not going to count that. all right, let's see if i can -- the same thing goes for the vietnam war memorial. in addition to the famous wall,

there's the three servicemen statue. there's a african-american represent inside that statue as well, but once again, this is a model. this does not represent any one particular african-american. over on u street, there's the african-american civil war memorial. memorializing the african-americans who fought in the civil war on the front you have three african-american soldiers. you can't see in this picture, but on the rear there's a african-american sailor because african-americans served in both the union and confederate navy as well. i always have to put that plug in there because my wife's a navy commander. [laughter] african-americans served in the navy during the civil war as well, but once again all of these are models. they don't represent any one particular african-american.

inside the rotunda of the u.s. capitol there is a bust of dr. martin luther king jr., but this is washington. we like full-sized statues. we really like to put them in the middle of the street where we have to drive in circles around them. so we're not going to count this either. so where in washington, d.c. is the only statue of a real african-american man on public land? and as a bonus, where in washington is the only statue of a real african-american woman? the answer, they're both in the same place. linkin park. in the middle of linkin park is a statue called freedom's memorial. it's a statue of president lincoln with a freed slave at his feet.

that freed slave is a real person named archer alexander. whoa. technology, you know? let's back up to -- am i doing this, or is it doing it by itself? there we go. there we go. and i want to read you a little bit about freedom's memorial. linkin park, located on east capitol street between 11th and 13th streets, is frequented often by baby-toting parents and frolicking dogs, but the park is historically significant for african-americans because of the two statues that sit in the middle. freedom's memorial and the mary mccloud bethune statue called

"let her works praise her." the park itself is the first site to be named in honor of abraham lincoln after his assassination with congress authorizing it to be called lincoln square in 1867. it was a natural fit. the park having hosted union troops and a medical certain called lincoln hospital during the civil war. the freedom's memorial statue was one of the first statues to honor lincoln after his assassination by john wilkes boothe, and one of the things that makes the statue unique is that it was almost entirely paid for by freed slaves. after the president's death, a freed slave named charlotte scott approached her employer in marietta, ohio, with the idea that african-americans should fund a statue to memorialize lincoln in washington d.c. to back her idea, scott donated

the first $5. she had earned as a free woman to the statue fund. following scott's lead, many black military veterans and organizations in the african-american community started sending money to the memorial fund until finally the fund had enough money to support a bronze statue with a granite base. one report suggests that the african-american community provided more than $16,000 of the $17,000 price tag of the statue. once the money had been raised, the managers of the memorial fund called the western sanitary commission commissioned thomas bell, an american living in be italy, to create something worthy of lincoln and the people who had donated their hard-earned money to honor his memory. bell crafted a statue depicting lincoln with the emancipation proclamation in his right hand and with his left hand extended

over a kneeling slave rising from the earth, shackles broken. next to lincoln is a monolith containing a bust of george washington in relief. around the monument's base is the word, "emancipation," and in the front is the following inscription: "freedom's memorial, in grateful memory of abraham lincoln, this monument was erected by the western sanitary commission with funds contributed solely by the emancipated citizens of the united states declared free by with his proclamation january 1, 1863. the contribution of first contribution of $5 was made by charlotte scott, a freed woman of virginia. being her first earnings in freedom and consecrated by her suggestion and request on the day she heard of president lincoln's death to build a monument in his memory.

in addition to being one of the first statues of lincoln, the freedom's memorial, also, is the first statue of a black erected in the nation's capital. the kneeling slave is a model of an actual man named archer alexander who had been a slave in missouri at the outbreak of the civil war. according to his biography which was called "the story after archer alexander from slavery to freedom," alexander got himself into trouble for helping out some union soldiers. the author, william g. elliot, said alexander had discovered some confederate sympathizers had sabotaged a bring used by union troops. quote, at night he walked 5 miles to the house of a well-known union man who repaired the bridge before

crossing it. elliot wrote. that move got alexander in trouble with his master, and he had to flee the farm. but soon he was caught in elliot's home where he was being sheltered. wrote elliot, the three men had come in with clubs in hand and getting close to where archer was working, said, is your name archie? yes, sir, archie said. i've got no occasion to deny my name. well, let go of that horse, you runaway rascal, and come with us. archer replied, no, sir, i's here under protection of the law. he had no sooner said the word than one of them raised his bludgeon and knocked him down with a blow to the head. the others pulled out knives and pistols and kicked him in the face. then they handcuffed him and forcibly dragged the helpless man to their wagon, pushed him in and drove off at top speed toward the city.

alexander eventually escaped from the slave catchers and returned to st. louis where he would live out the rest of his life. his biographer, elliot, ended up on the commission deciding what type of statue would go into lincoln park. the commission wants a real escaped slave to model for the statue, and elliot gave the sculptor a photograph of alexander. alexander was pleased when he found out that he would be forever connected with lincoln through the statue in washington. quote, when i showed him the photographic picture of the freedom's memorial monument soon after its inauguration in washington and explained to him its meaning and that he would thus be remembered in connection with abraham lincoln, the emancipator of his race, he laughed all over, elliot said. so right now this statue is the only statue of an

african-american man on public land in washington d.c. now, of course, this will soon change. on the national mall, soon there will be the dr. martin luther king jr. national memorial. the city of washington, d.c. is also working on a statue of frederick douglass that will go as part of the national statuary collection inside the u.s. capitol with d.c. finally getting two statues to go along with the other 50 states' statues that are inside the capitol. there's another statue going up, but we'll talk about that later. that was the first part of the question. the second part of the question was, where is the only statue of an african-american woman? and, of course, that statue is also in lincoln park, and that's a statue of mary mcleod

bethune. now, one of the interesting things about these two statues in lincoln park is how they're positioned. the freedom's memorial, the statue of lincoln and archer alexander, sits in the exact center of lincoln park, and when the statue went up, lincoln faced the u.s. capitol. so lincoln faced west. when they decided to put the statue of mary mccloud bethune in lincoln park, they put mary mccloud bethune in the east end of the park. so the setup in the park was this: abraham lincoln looked at the capitol dome every day. so did mary mcleod bethune. but that meant that mary mcleod bethune was looking at lincoln's back. well, when this was recognized,

several people in washington, d.c. said this was inappropriate. there was no way that abraham lincoln would ever turn his back on a woman like mary mcleod bethune. so the d.c. city government came up with a solution. they picked up the lincoln statue, and they turned it 180 degrees. so now in lincoln park abraham lincoln and mary mcleod bethune face each other, and abraham lincoln's back is to the u.s. capitol. [laughter] since we're a little pressed for time, i'm going to just keep going here. all right. one of the other things i decided to do when researching

this book was to expand the focus beyond just washington d.c. because, of course, the district of columbia wouldn't be here without virginia and maryland, and there are deep connections between those two states and the district. so i decided to look around the d.c. metro area and see if there were interesting tidbits of african-american history i could find. and one of the most interesting stories i found about washington, d.c. comes from the civil war era. now, during the civil war, freed slaves from the south would often start up their own cities and their own towns so they could earn to be self-sufficient. in fact, there have been several

movies about these towns, one of the most famous ones is rosewood about a town in florida called rosewood. one of those towns existed here in the metro d.c. area. in fact, it existed exactly where arlington national cemetery sits today. this town was called friedman's village. friedman's village existed and was started by freed slaves of confederate general robert e. lee. now, to understand this, we have to understand why arlington national cemetery exists. well, arlington house, the mansion that sits at the top of arlington national cemetery, used to be the home of robert e. lee. where he, his wife and their

family lived before the civil war. now, once general lee took command of the southern forces, he thought it perhaps wasn't wise to live across the river from the capitol of the opposing side. so he picked up his family, and he moved them to richmond, virginia. however, general lee did not take all of his slaves along with him. and once the lees had left arlington house, the union forces immediately crossed the potomac and took over the land. and one union general decided that he never wanted robert e. lee to ever return to arlington house. and the way he insured that this would not happen was he began

burying union and confederate soldiers in robert e. lee's front yard. that is how arlington national cemetery got started. another way they tried to insure that general lee would never return was they gave part of the plantation to some of his freed slaves. and what these freed slaves did with the land was come up with a town called freedman'sville act. village. it'll get there. there it is. this is a drawing of freedman's village from harper's weekly magazine. as you can see, it wasn't exactly small. they had their own churches,

they had their own schools, hay even had their own hospital. we've even been able to find a photograph of the people of freedman's village in the national archives. we're assuming that in this photograph, because it had no caption, that these are slaves, former slaves attending a church service based on the formal dress that everyone has on in the photograph and everyone seems to be holding a book which we're assuming is the bible. once again, all of these are assumptions, but we do know that this is a picture of the residents of freedman's village, and i want to read you a little about freedman's village. in addition to using arlington house and its grounds as a garrison, in 1863 the federal government turned part of the grounds that now comprise arlington national cemetery into

a self-sustaining village called the freedman's village for former slaves. historians suspect that this village was located in what is now the southern section of arlington national cemetery, sections 847 and 25 along eisenhower drive. more than 100 former slaves including some of robert e. lee's slaves setting here and began to work. the slaves became known as contraband, a term linked with general benjamin f. butler. since southern's considered slaves property, butler reasoned that slaves that were freed by the union army or who made it up to the north would be considered spoils of war for the united states. the freed slaves 35eud $10 -- paid $10 a month to live in freedman's village. the money went toward rent and maintenance fees. even back then, homeowners association. [laughter] originally, freedman's village

was run by the union army which was more concerned with winning the civil war than taking care of runaway slaves. but in 1865 the freedman's bureau took over freedman's village which at that time was basically a refugee camp and turned it into a real village with schools, training centers, hospitals, churches and farms. now, as freedman's village expanded, word of the success of this endeavor began to spread around washington, d.c. and around the nation. several african-american dignitaries from around the country came through washington to see what was happening at freedman's village. one even decided to stay.

sojourner truth to the this day is probably the most famous resident of freedman's village. truth was a mainstay at freedman's village, and washington, d.c.'s newest hospital, freedman's hospital, which, of course, is now howard university hospital. more than just a preach every, sojourner truth was also a protecter for the people of freedman's village. slave owners from maryland had taken to raiding the freedman's village for black children to work for them, and if the children's parents complained, they were thrown in jail. but truth went through the village telling parents that they didn't have to stand for such treatment because they had rights as well. some of the whites in the area were upset that a african-american was telling freed slaves about their rights, and they threatened to thrower r

in prison. she wasn't intimidated, however. if they tried to silence her, sojourner truth warned them she would make this nation rock like a cradle. she was left alone. [laughter] truth had powerful friends, and she knew it. while living and working in freedman's village, she was likely the first african-american woman to be received at the white house as a guest of the president. in his office. her work at freedman's village didn't mark the only time sojourner truth would challenge the white power structure in the district of columbia. she wasn't afraid to take her case to the courts when she knew she was right. she likely was the first african-american woman to win a lawsuit against a white man. when a slave owner illegally sold her son, peter, to alabama, she took the slave owner to court. she won the case and her son was returned.

but she didn't stop there. sojourner truth also won a slander case and a $125 judgment against the newspaper that called her a witch who had poisoned the leader of a religious group. while sojourner truth lived in freedman's village, she needed to ride washington's streetcars to get to her job at freedman's hospital in the city. however, the district had a strict policy of segregation in its public transportation, and african-americans had to sit in special sections in the streetcars. ..

there then rose a great shout from the crowd, she has beaten them. the angry conductor told her to go forward where the horses were or he would put her out. quietly seeding herself she informed him that she was a passenger. go forward where the horses are or will throw you out or go she

told them that she was neither a marylander or a virginian to fear his threats. but was from the empire state of new york and knew the laws as well as he did. several soldiers were in the car and when other passengers came and they related the circumstances, you ought to have heard that old woman talk to the conductor. sojourner wrote further that she needed to go, for a ride was so weary privilege she was determined to make the most of it. she left the car feeling very happy and said, bless god, i have had a right. on another occasion, church had been walking with a white friend when they decided to take a streetcar together. this time, they conductor put his hand on her to force her off the streetcar and the situation exploded. in the book of life, truth describe what happened.

as mrs. haviland signaled the car, iced that to one side as if to continue my walk and when it stopped, iran and jumped aboard. they can do to push me back saying, get out of the way and let this lady in. imf lady too. we went with no further opposition and till we were obliged to change cars. a man coming out as we were going into the next car asked to conduct your if we were allowed to ride. the conductor grabbed me by my shoulder and me around, ordered me to get out. i told him i would not. ms. haviland took hold of my other arm since it, don't put her out. the conductor asked if i belonged to her.

no, replied mrs. haviland, she belongs to humanity. then take her out and go said he and giving me another push slammed me against the door. i told him i would let him know whether he could shove me about iq dog and said to ms. have lent, take the number of his car. truth found out during her hospital stay that she had a case to take this man to court for assault and battery. with assistance from a lawyer, from the friedmans bureau, she won. her lawsuit not only got the streetcar conductor fired, it also became one of the counties that forced the district to desegregate its streetcars. this is what she said sojourner truth happened after all of this. it created a great sensation and before the trial was ended, the

insides of the cars looked like pepper and salt. sojourner truth brought hope to the friedmans village but the residents also helped themselves by educating and taking care of their own. they started, what started out to be a refugee camp was turned into a real palm, building, houses and schools, wooden two-story duplex, homes were built housing multiple families. there were also home set up for the old and the infirm who could not care for themselves. they also built schools, which taught them trade so they could he come blacksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers or taylor's. the students then gave back to the village making clothes and shoes for the villagers and chairs and desks for the school. so, with all of this, why isn't

friedmans village still there today? there is an answer. in december 1882, the lee family won a lawsuit that brought against the-- wreck to the united states supreme court regarding arlington house. the 5 -- go for ruling stated that arlington house had encompass gated without due process. the next year, congress purchased the property from the lee's for $150. arlington house officially became government property in friedmans village was finished. on december 7, 1887 people in the village were given 90 days to leave. they received $75,000 to split amongst themselves and as

compensation for the work they had done to make their homes livable. and then, they were thrown off the land. today, there is nothing left of friedmans village. however, that does not mean there is no record of african-americans who used to live at the site that become arlington national cemetery. the federal government removes the buildings, but left behind the gravesites of those who had died there. in section 27 of the cemetery, that part of arlington national cemetery nearest to the iwo jima memorial, there are more than 3800 great markers with the inscription, civilian and citizen. these are the graves of the former residents of friedmans village, who were laid to rest near the land they used to call

their own. interred with the residents of friedmans village in section 27 and also in section 23 are about 1500 united states troops, the african-americans who fought with the union army, despite being forced to work in segregated units. their tombstones bear a civil war shield and the letter usc tea served-- carved on the front. the troops are buried in these two sections because arlington national cemetery was segregated for more than 80 years and african-american war dead were buried separately from their white counterparts. so if you ever have a chance to go to arlington national cemetery, once again this is the section that is closest to the that you would gina memorial. you will see tombstones carrying the words civilian and citizen.

allow these tombstones have only one name, like this one, washington. when he died that was the only name they had for him. quite a few of them say unknown because they had no record of the real name of this person. but you can find names of people-- there is a wilson near the back with rosa smith here on the side. even if you go out there and look, you can even find children who were buried in this section but once again all of these tombstones say the words civilian or citizen he does win these people died, they were no longer slaves. they were civilians and citizens of the united united states of . the title of the book is called "black men built the capitol" which brings up the obvious question of did lack men really

build the capital? i am going to take a couple of seconds more to lead-- read a little bit more to you. from millions of people who are the capital every year, few know or are told about the contributions that blacks made to the heart and soul of the u.s. government. no minor oversight. the capital would not exist as we know it today without slave craftsmanship and labor. records show that the slaves who lived in the washington d.c. area made up a good portion of the labor pool that worked on the capital. mo that constructed the capital cleared to land from jenkins hill and doug up stumps from the

wide avenues that radiate to the city according to research first published, first publicized by nbc reporter ed hoadley in 2000. we now know slaves baked the bricks used for the buildings foundations and walls, saw the lumber for the interior walls and floors, dug the that the trenches for the foundation, worked the pouring's swear the sand stone was cut and later the stones that hold up the capital to this day. quote in rebuilding the capitall the white house and other structure destroyed or the british in 1814 gangs of hired slave did the bulk of the work, wrote constance mclaughlin green and in her 1967 book, the secret city, the history of race relations in nation's capital. many of the slaves were likely hired from virginia, maryland and the district of columbia. the largest way of holding state in america was virginia with a little more than 400,000 slaves

living there before the civil war. people of the district of columbia and maryland also had their share of slaves with as many as 31-- 3185 slaves residing in the federal capital and another 100,000 living in maryland. the construction of the capital and other federal buildings in washington were a windfall for slaveowners with public records attesting to the fact that the 5-dollar payment for african-american slave labor was made directly to the slaveowners and not to the labor. according to congressional legislation introduced in 2000 to study the use of slave labor in the capital's construction. slaveowner edmund howell, who lived in what is now called st. mary's county, phone 64 slaves and rented out three men, gerard tony and jack to work at the capital.

although he did not lift one single stone or cut down a single tree, he made $15 a month off the capital construction. he was only required to provide his slaves with a blanket. the use of slave labor to benefit the government as well as slaveowners, if white workers demanded higher salaries, the government could write into replace them with cheap slave labor. little is known about the slaves themselves other than some of their names and the fact they lived in ramshackle huts around the capitol along with wife paid laborers. although they received no money for their regular work, slaves did get rationed in medical care while working at the capitol with some likely getting more than they would have gotten if they had working on local farms.

slaves were sometimes paid if they worked more than their masters required, for example if they worked on sunday in addition to working the normal monday through saturday work week. one slave named peter received one pound for making a coffin for public people. so if you go through the capitol today, there are some things that you can see that still exist that african-american slaves directly worked on. i am actually going to start with something that isn't in the capitol anymore. if you have ever been to the national arboretum on new york avenue directly in the center of the arboretum is this. this is called the national capitol columns. these are columns that used to hold up the dome of the u.s. capitol. however, as the dome was getting near completion they found out

the sandstone they used for these columns would not support the full weight of the dome. so, the columns that exist on the dome of the capitol right now are actually replicas of these columns. these were taken out of the capitol and move to several different locations around washington d.c. and finally ended up at the arboretum. these stones were quarried in a quiet creek virginia at a slave run for a, were african-american slaves quarried the stone, cut it into blocks, put it on barges heading up the potomac, brought to the washington harbor and then put on horse and carriage and brought up to the u.s. capitol. if you go out to the arboretum today you can actually go out and put your hands on something that african-american slaves worked on for the u.s. capitol but you don't have to go all the

way out to the arboretum to put your hands on something that the slaves worked on. national statuary hall inside the u.s. capitol, this used to be the original chamber for the house of representatives. the marble columns inside this chamber are also there because of african-american work. but they read a little bit about that for you here. the contributions of african-americans didn't end with the construction of the walls and the statues of the capitol. is terkel records show slaves are also responsible for some of the most impressive architectural teachers inside the capitol. some of these contributions are on display in statuary hall, the home of many of the statues donated the 50 states to honor their greatest citizens and the original chamber of the house of representatives. congress was anxious to restore

the statuary hall, the site of several presidential inaugurations. to its previous glory, after british troops burned the capitol during the war of 1812, to that end the federal government contracted with the man named john harding to provide the colossal columns of very gated marble to stand along the walls of the house and senate chambers. the marble was to be quarried from no one's very, maryland which was located along the potomac river in an area that is known as northern montgomery county. but he proved to be a poor choice because he was woefully unprepared according to william allen, the historian for the architect of the capitol who has written several books on the building's buildings architecture and art. hard and failed to corey, cut and polished marble from no one's very at the speed needed to complete the construction of

the house and senate chambers. the federal government decided to hire workers to complete the project. many of the workers were slaves from nearby farms. while the government did not pay the slaves for their work, it provided clothing and temporary housing for them as they successfully quarried, cut and polish the marble column shafts and sent them up the potomac to washington for placement. the same marble shafts can now be seen along the walls of statuary hall and the old senate chambers, one of the few places in the capitol where tourists can still touch something academics can positively attest was worked on by slaves. as a reward for their work, the slaves were to be returned to enslavement in the fields and farms from which they had been brought. meanwhile their masters received payment from the federal government.

i worked in the capitol for about six years and every time i walk through statuary hall i made sure to touch it least one of these columns because these columns are a direct example of work african-american slaves did inside the u.s. capitol. , these are not the only places that you can still see work that african-americans did on the u.s. capitol. the statue that grounds the capitol dome likely would not be their without the work of an african-american slave named philip reed. blacks were not just brute labor at the capitol. they also brought highly

specialized experience in carpentry, rick lane, iron working and other skilled trades as the statuary freedom on top of the capitol dome shows. when the capitol was first constructed the building had a small wood and copper dome that none of the grandeur of the current dome. it was considered a national and there is meant. the responsibility of coming up with a new dome was given to architect and designer thomas walter and montgomery mix who designed the current white cast-iron dome that we see today. two months after congress authorized the construction of a capitol dome in 1855 sculptor thomas crawford was given a commission to create a statue that would sit on top of the new structure. crawford was a white van who had a couple of run-ins with slaveowner and future president of the confederacy, jefferson davis because of crawford's desire to make a statue one at a freed slave.

crawford completed a 19-foot, 16-inch plaster model of the statue of freedom in 1856 while living in rome. according to the arctic of the capitol crawford wanted to top the statue with the symbol of freed slaves in ancient greece, and that is what you see there on top. this is actually a photo of the original luster model of the statue of freedom and at the top you can see the liberty cap i just mentioned. davis, and his then capacity as u.s. war secretary objected to this idea saying in a january 5, 1856 letter that its history renders it inappropriate to have people born free and would not be enslaved, so in other words, jefferson-- sorry, jeff davis did not want a statue of a freed

slave but on top of the u.s. capitol before the civil war because he thought it i'd give people some ideas. so he went back to thomas crawford and said, something has to be changed. crawford relented, replacing the liberty cap with a crested roman helmet which is what we see on top of this statue of freedom today. he would die the next year in london without ever seeing his work on top of the capitol. if not for the ingenuity of philip reed, a slave of mixed blood, this dori of the freedom statue would end with a plaster model arriving in america and sitting on the grounds of the capitol. reed, a 39-year-old slave from charleston south carolina was owned by ironworker, clark mills who described reed as a highly

esteemed workman who is smart in mind and a good workmen and founder. reed came up with mills to washington d.c. from south carolina where the slave had worked in a foundry for his entire life. mills noted in 1863 document that he walked reed because of his evident talent and the foundry business. reed proved his intelligence and skills in two different incidents involving the statue of freedom. wants this plaster mold of the statue of freedom which by the way now sits in the capitol visitor center, made it to the capitol grounds and an italian workmen assembled at it near at near that building so everyone from around tc-99 could come and see what freedom would look like when it was finished and on top of the dome. author st weinman described what would happen next in his 1869 book the federal city.

the italian was ordered to take a model. does he positively refused to do, unless he was given a large increase of wages and secured employment for a number of years for a good government job. he said, he alone knew how to separate it and would only do so upon such conditions. the italian worker thought he was the only person in the country skilled enough to take apart the plaster model without raking it with philip reed proved him wrong. wyatt continued, his plan of working with this. it took was inserted into an iron die in a fix to the head of the statue. the rope was then gently strained repeatedly until the uppermost joining of the top section of the model began to make a faint appearance.

this gave some indications as to the whereabouts of of the bolts inside and bled to their discovery. does, finally, one after another the sections were discovered old son listened in the model on injured was made ready for the foundry. if philip reed had he cared out how to take this plaster model back apart, who knows what would have happened to the statue? it also believe still what he sitting outside of the u.s. capitol even today. but, because of the ingenuity of an african-american slave, the plaster model was disassembled and taken out two planes berg, maryland to the foundry of clark mills where it was going to be bronzed. however, there was a second incident once the statue made it to bladensburg.

clark mills was paid $400 a month by the federal government to cast freedom and bronze at its boundary but another dispute over money interrupted the work. on december 10, 1863 the new york tribune described the situation. quote when the bronze castings were being completed in the foundry of mr. mills near layton's berg his fireman who superintended the work from the beginning and he was receiving $8 per day went on strike and demanded 10. assuring mr. m that the advance must be granted to him as nobody in america except himself could complete the work. mr. m felt the demand was exorbitant and appealed his dilemma to the slaves who were insisting in the molding.

"matt, i can do that well said one of them, and intelligent and ingenious servant who would an intimately engaged in the various processes. the striker was dismissed. and the man assisted occasionally by the fire skill of his master to the striker's place as superintendent and the work went on. the black master builder lifted the ponderous, uncouth masses and old at them together joint by joint, piece by piece until the landed into the majestic freedom who today lives her head in the blue clouds above washington invoking a benediction on this imperiled republic. now, the slave was never named in the new york tribune story but is likely given the description of the skill, that this was philip reed. thus, it took a slave to get work started on the statue of freedom by figuring out how to

take the plaster model apart and it took a black man to supervise the creation of the statue that sits on top of the capitol. now, few history books mentioned reed or the work he did, but his service is well documented and congressional records. in an address to congress in 1928 as preserved in the congressional record, one of the statue's most reverent supporters, william cox, said the successful dismantling and handling of a model was due to the faithful service and genius of an intelligent man named philip reed, m. a lot of slave owned by mr. clark mills and that much credit is due him for his faithful and intelligence services rendered in molding and casting america's superb statue of freedom which kisses the first rays of the rising sun as

they appear upon the apex of the capitol's wonderful dome. reed's skill was such that he was one of the few slaves paid personally in addition to his master being compensated for his time and labor. this is a copy of a receipt we were able to find at the national archive of money that was paid to philip reed. in 1861, the federal government aide read $1.25 a sunday for "that keeping up the fires under the mold. one of the things we were able to find out about philip read through this document and either way keeping the fires under the mold, this is basically keeping the fires burning to work in iron you need heat. however when the work week ended on saturday if you let the fires go out you waste a bunch of time