Slave labor built our national monuments.

Byline: Akilah Monifa

We built this country.

That's a common refrain you hear from African-Americans. In a general knowing way, African-Americans are saying with that phrase that slave labor and underpaid black workers made this country possible. They not only picked the cotton but laid the railroads, worked in the factories and erected the buildings.

Recently discovered public records confirm the use of African-American slave labor in the construction of the two most important structures in the country _ the U.S. Capitol and the White House. Slave labor was also used in the making of two significant statues in Washington, one of which, the Statue of Freedom, was hoisted atop the dome of the Capitol in 1863.

Ed Hotaling, a Washington-based television producer, is the one who made the discovery. While he was doing research for a program on the buildings, Hotaling unearthed U.S. Treasury promissory notes to slave owners. These documents confirmed that slaves were used in the construction of the Capitol and the White House. The slave owners were promised $5 a month for each of their slaves used in the construction.

In fact, Treasury Department pay slips show that more than two-thirds of the laborers who worked on the buildings (450 out of 650) were of African descent _ 400 slaves and 50 freemen. Twelve slaves were used to cast the Statue of Freedom.

The revelations are not surprising to many African-Americans and shouldn't be to people with a knowledge of history. Construction on these structures began in 1792, and slavery wasn't banned by law until 1865.