Slave labor in the capital : building Washington's iconic federal landmarks / Bob Arnebeck.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Arnebeck, Bob, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slave labor--Washington (D.C.).

Slave labor.

Public buildings--Washington (D.C.)--History--19th century.

Public buildings.

Public buildings--Washington (D.C.)--Design and construction--History--19th century.

Washington (D.C.)--History.

Washington (D.C.).

Washington (D.C.)--Buildings, structures, etc.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (185 pages) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Charleston, SC : History Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The little-known history of how enslaved African Americans contributed to the building of the White House and other landmarks-includes illustrations. In 1791, President George Washington appointed a commission to build the future capital of the nation. Workers flocked to the city-but the commission found that paying masters of faraway Maryland plantations sixty dollars a year for their slaves made it easier to keep their payroll low. In 1798, half of the two hundred workers building the two most iconic Washington landmarks, the Capitol and the White House, were slaves. They moved stones for Scottish masons and sawed lumber for Irish carpenters. They cut trees and baked bricks. These unschooled young black men left no memoirs. Based on his research in the commissioners' records, author Bob Arnebeck describes their world of dawn-to-dusk work, salt pork and corn bread, white scorn and a kind nurse, and the moments when everything depended on their skills.

Contents:

Far from home

Chocolate butter for breakfast

Axe men

Quarries

Hauling

Stonecutters and masons

Sawyers and carpenters

Bricks

Living conditions

1800.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-176) and index.

ISBN:

9781625852588

1625852584