Abolitionist Douglass will stand tall in Capitol

WASHINGTON

The towering statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass that's standing in the atrium of a Washington government office building has been a symbol-in-waiting -- until now.

Congress approved and the president signed a bill in September that directs the move of the 19th-century icon's image to the Capitol's Emancipation Hall, where it will be one of only three statues of African-Americans.

It will be the first time that a statue in the Capitol will represent the District of Columbia, which is excluded from the Capitol's Statuary Hall collection because it isn't a state. The 1864 law that created the hall entitles every state to display two statues of distinguished residents who are deceased.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton said that what might seem like a "little thing" was an important step. "For us, it's a great triumph," said Norton, who represents the city in the House of Representatives but has limited voting privileges.

The District of Columbia has long struggled with Congress for recognition. Lawmakers have thwarted its statehood efforts.

The city was created as the federal capital in 1791 with land donated by Maryland and Virginia. Residents didn't win the right to vote in the presidential election until 1961, with ratification of the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution, and the right to elect a mayor and City Council until the 1970s.

Respect wanted

Washington was so intent on getting some respect on Capitol Hill that the city decided to put pressure on Congress by having its hoped-for congressional symbol ready before approval even was granted.

After a selection process, the city commissioned two statues in 2006 -- one of Douglass and one of the city's architect, Pierre Charles L'Enfant -- instead of going through the usual years-long procedure of getting a state legislature (in Washington's case, the City Council) and then Congress to sign off before an artist is chosen.

But the real oomph behind the bill getting through had little to do with Washington and more to do with the power of Douglass as a symbol, the up-from-slavery orator who was an author, city official, political activist and confidant of President Abraham Lincoln.

"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," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a cosponsor of the effort to install the Douglass statue.

Built by slave labor, the Capitol has only two busts of blacks: civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and abolitionist Sojourner Truth. Congress approved a statue of civil rights activist Rosa Parks for Statuary Hall in 2005 -- a decision to honor Parks that's separate from the statues each state selects -- but it hasn't yet been installed.

The site of Statuary Hall is the old House chamber. The 1864 law called for all the state symbols to be placed there, but as the number of states grew, the statues became three-deep. The collection now is placed throughout the Capitol.

Still, Douglass' statue won't be considered part of the group from the states, said Eva Malecki, a spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol. "It's not part of the collection" of 100 state statues, Malecki said, pointing to the language of the law. But, she said, it's part of the collection of the Capitol.