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Week Ending November 16, 2007

H.R.3315 To provide that the great hall of the Capitol Visitor Center shall be known as Emancipation Hall.

The great hall of the recently constructed Capitol Visitor Center is to be designated as Emancipation Hall.

The Center is to handle over 3 million visitors yearly and will provide information , tickets and gathering places with scenic views. The Hall will serve as a central gathering place in the Center, will encompass 20,000 square feet within its 100 by 200 feet floor plan. The ceiling is 35 feet high. The Hall will incorporate stone and other materials from several States such as black granite from California and sandstone from Pennsylvania.

The name change is intended to acknowledge the work of slave laborers who helped build the original Capitol building. Several other Federal buildings and the White House were also built with slave labor, a 2005 report said, at a time when area population was sparse but slave labor was high. Free blacks and whites also worked on the building.

Sponsor:  Rep. Zach Wamp (TN-3^rd)

Vote: Passed House 398 to 6 November 13, 2007 RC 1082

Cost to the taxpayers: CBO estimates that enactment of these bills would have no significant impact on the federal budget and would not affect direct spending or revenues

Earmark Certification:  

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MINORITY VIEWS

I was pleased to offer the motion to report H.R. 3315 favorably from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure because I support recognizing emancipation and honoring the contributions of slaves in the construction of the Capitol. However, as I discussed in the subcommittee hearing and full committee markup, I have concerns about renaming the Great Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center. Throughout the history of the Capitol, none of the monumental spaces, such as the House and Senate chambers or the Rotunda, have been named after specific individuals or events in history. Instead, these great spaces of the Capitol have long been called by their functional names. By doing so, all people regardless of their race, ethnic heritage, culture, or human travails are equally recognized.

These spaces are dramatic because of their physical settings and the unique historical events that took place within their walls. Similarly, the Great Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center will become a monumental space with its own unique history; and just as those spaces have not been named, I believe the Great Hall should be reserved and left to honor all Americans.

While I do not believe it is appropriate to rename the Great Hall, I do believe that it is important for Congress to acknowledge and honor the contributions slaves made to the Capitol. In the hearing held by the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management and again in the full committee markup of this legislation, I suggested that other spaces could better acknowledge emancipation and honor the slaves that helped build the Capitol.

For example, the exhibition hall will provide an important historical context to the name Emancipation Hall and allow visitors to learn about and pay tribute to emancipation. One of the first recommendations I made as a member of the Capitol Preservation Commission was to create a first class museum space within the CVC. I proposed a museum quality space so we could exhibit some of the tremendous artifacts--like the Emancipation Proclamation--which are rarely viewed by the public.

The exhibition hall will be 16,500 square feet, a large space that would not only honor those who built the Capitol, but provide information about their contributions to American history. The exhibition hall will display the Emancipation Proclamation and prominently house the catafalque that was built to support the casket of Abraham Lincoln--the Great Emancipator--while the president's body lay in state in the Rotunda. This hall will contain permanent exhibits on the Constitution and the post-Civil War amendments proposed by Congress and ratified by the states to abolish slavery, to guarantee equal protection under the law, and to ensure the right to vote.

This beautiful hall will have strong historical and contextual links to emancipation. It will be the primary venue for acknowledging and commemorating the slaves who helped build the Capitol and the country. It will help deepen the understanding of our Nation's long struggle with slavery and its ultimate abolition for all who visit here. For all of these reasons, I would suggest we name this area of the Visitor Center Emancipation Hall.

A second space I proposed naming Emancipation Hall is the congressional auditorium. While it does not have the strong links to emancipation as the exhibition hall, it is the most significant functional space in the facility, a place where leaders will gather to discuss important ideas of their time. The auditorium is a grand space that is being designed to serve as an alternative House Chamber. Except for the current House and Senate Chambers, no other venue in the Capitol has such an important purpose. The name Emancipation Hall would serve as a valuable reminder of courage, leadership, and our unique commitment to advance the cause of human freedom and fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. As such, I believe it would be appropriate and fitting to name the facility Emancipation Hall.

In sum, I believe there are more appropriate areas in the Capitol Visitor Center to name Emancipation Hall. Additionally, we have a tradition of leaving the monumental spaces of the Capitol un-named. As a monumental space in, and an introduction to, the Capitol, the Great Hall should retain its current functional name like the other great spaces within the Capitol.

JOHN L. MICA.

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