Justin B Smith, 28, is a U.S. Air Force Veteran. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland but presently resides in Baltimore.Justin is a Gay Activist. Since 1999 he has worked with various gay organizations including the National Black Justice Coalition, Human Rights Campaign, Equality Maryland, Us Helping Us, and People Into Living Incorporated.
Justin is currently enrolled in school pursuing his degree in Communication and Journalism.
A $621 million project is not expected to be ready for tourists until next fall. Congress has set an encouraging standard, emphasizing the center's educational mission by naming the main wel-coming chamber Emancipation Hall. The name honors the forgotten African-American slaves that were forced to help build the original Capitol in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Researchers found slaves were rented as Capitol labor by the federal government for $5.00 a month, which was paid directly to local slave owners. "Negro hires" was the term used in the construction of what early on was called, no irony recorded, the "Temple of Liberty."
The slaves worked six days a week, 12 hours a day, quarrying stone, sawing timber and hauling supplies. Until now, all they earned for this back-breaking labor was anonymity. Emancipation Hall will be the main point of welcome for crowds of constituents in the 580,000-square-foot visitors' center.
It is expected to become a prime Washington destination, designed to handle greater throngs in a more secure, inspiring and informative setting. Amid all the tower-ing patriotism depicted, exhibits are planned about the slaves' lot of hardship and creativity in realizing the Capitol.
A slave named Philip Reid is credited with helping to cast the Statue of Freedom - the Capitol dome's crowning decoration - after the original white craftsmen refused to do so without a pay raise. Reid was ultimately made a free man by an act of Congress, the rare special-interest legis-lation that deserves to be cited in the new Emancipation Hall.
A $621 million project is not expected to be ready for tourists until next fall. Congress has set an encouraging standard, emphasizing the center's educational mission by naming the main wel-coming chamber Emancipation Hall. The name honors the forgotten African-American slaves that were forced to help build the original Capitol in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Researchers found slaves were rented as Capitol labor by the federal government for $5.00 a month, which was paid directly to local slave owners. "Negro hires" was the term used in the construction of what early on was called, no irony recorded, the "Temple of Liberty."
The slaves worked six days a week, 12 hours a day, quarrying stone, sawing timber and hauling supplies. Until now, all they earned for this back-breaking labor was anonymity. Emancipation Hall will be the main point of welcome for crowds of constituents in the 580,000-square-foot visitors' center.
It is expected to become a prime Washington destination, designed to handle greater throngs in a more secure, inspiring and informative setting. Amid all the tower-ing patriotism depicted, exhibits are planned about the slaves' lot of hardship and creativity in realizing the Capitol.
A slave named Philip Reid is credited with helping to cast the Statue of Freedom - the Capitol dome's crowning decoration - after the original white craftsmen refused to do so without a pay raise. Reid was ultimately made a free man by an act of Congress, the rare special-interest legis-lation that deserves to be cited in the new Emancipation Hall.