Accepting and Depicting Frederick Douglass Statue

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the statues and busts in the U.S. Capitol depicting distinguished Americans number more than 120. However, among the collection are only two African Americans, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Sojourner Truth. This disparity fails to acknowledge the historically significant contributions of African Americans to our Nation. I am pleased that passage of H.R. 6336 today begins to address this need to display in the U.S. Capitol the statues and busts of outstanding African Americans whose contributions to the country deserve such recognition.

In my fiscal year 2013 Senate Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill reported by the committee on June 14, I included a provision to permit the District of Columbia to donate and the Joint Committee on the Library to accept a statue of Frederick Douglass for placement in the United States Capitol. All costs of the transportation and placement of the statue would be borne by the District of Columbia. Subsequently, I joined Senator Schumer in introducing a free-standing resolution for acquisition of the Douglass statue. The House acted on its own measure and unanimously approved it earlier this week.

Frederick Douglass was one of the most influential orators and writers of
the 19th century, an advocate for abolitionism, women's suffrage, and the equality of all people. He worked tirelessly on behalf of emancipation. As a pivotal figure in Underground Railroad activities, he was an inspiration to enslaved Americans who aspired to freedom and equal rights.

As one of our Nation's most powerful voices for justice and the equality of all people, Frederick Douglass' writings and teachings still speak to Americans today. Moving a statue of Frederick Douglass to the Emancipation Hall not only will recognize the accomplishments of one of the most important political activists in American history, it also will help correct the imbalance of influential African Americans honored in the halls of our Nation's Capitol.

It is particularly fitting that this long overdue legislation will be enacted near the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's signing of the preliminary proclamation on September 22, 1862, that paved the way for the Emancipation Proclamation to be signed on January 1, 1863.

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