Norton Inaugural Tour of House Floor and Statues of African Americans in the Capitol for D.C. Residents Featured for Black History Month

WASHINGTON, DC – The office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that on Thursday, February 20, 2014, from 10:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., Norton will kick off the first of regular tours for D.C. residents led by the Congresswoman and her staff of the floor of the House of Representatives and of statues of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Park in Statuary Hall, and of D.C.'s Frederick Douglass statue and the Sojourner Truth statue in Emancipation Hall. These are the only four statues or busts in the Capitol that honor African Americans. About 60 D.C. residents will be on Thursday's tour, including 20 students from Dunbar High School, which is Norton's alma mater, 20 students from Stuart Hobson Middle School, 20 students from Richard Wright Public Charter School, and representatives from D.C. Public Schools and the D.C. Public Charter School Board. A focal point of the tour will be the gathering of residents on the House floor, where members of the public can go only when accompanied by a member of Congress. The press is invited to the tour of the statues. For the Emancipation Hall portion of the tour, where the Douglass and Truth statues are located, the press can walk with the residents and film. For the Statuary Hall portion of the tour, where the King and Parks statues are located, the press can film from a designated location and should RSVP to Daniel van Hoogstraten at daniel.vanhoog@mail.house.gov. The media cannot accompany the tour to the House floor. Future tours will be held on a regular basis for D.C. public, charter and private schools, as well as citizen groups and clubs.

"I want D.C. residents to experience the space where members of Congress transact not only the business of the nation but also the business of the District of Columbia, which, of course, is none of the business of the Congress," said Norton. "We who live in the belly of the beast need to see not only the true center of congressional action, but also the statues of these greats in the Capitol."

Residents will arrive at Statuary Hall in the Capitol Building by roughly 11:30 a.m. and will tour the Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. statues. Then, the tour will move to Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center by about noon to view D.C.'s Frederick Douglass statue and the Sojourner Truth statue. Prior to the statue viewing, residents will go to the House floor, where Norton will speak about her legislation that brought D.C.'s Frederick Douglass statue to the Capitol after years of rebuffs by opponents of D.C. statehood.

Last year, Norton got her bill passed that treats D.C. like the 50 states by bringing a statue of Frederick Douglass representing the District to the Capitol. D.C. is now the only jurisdiction that is not yet a state to have a statue there, along with the 50 states. House and Senate Republican and Democratic leadership sponsored the unveiling of D.C.'s Douglass statue, with Vice President Joe Biden and members of the Douglass family joining Norton and others to speak at the ceremony. Douglass was known as an abolitionist and an international human rights icon, but he also served in D.C. posts and was a champion for equal citizenship for D.C. residents.

Published: February 18, 2014