As
we celebrate Black History month, it’s important to remember the contributions
African Americans made to Washington, D.C. and the Treasury Department
The city has nurtured many African American leaders since its founding in 1800,
including the likes of Benjamin Banneker, Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth,
Mary McLeod Bethune, Duke Ellington, and Charles Drew to cite just a
few. Now largely forgotten, the work of many DC residents is
visible on major landmarks in the city, including the Treasury building.
During
the early 19th century, middle class African Americans helped build
the Treasury building. While now largely forgotten, the story of those
men who contributed to the building has been preserved in both written and
visual documentation, and their story deserves to be told.
Figure 1 - possibly John Mitchell, Cart Driver
The
Treasury building was the largest building project in early 19th-century
Washington after the Capitol. The project encompassed the building of the
East and Central wings from 1836 – 1842 and the South, West, and North wings
from 1852 – 1869. In all the Treasury building projects, the role of
freed African Americans is well recorded, the documentation enhanced by early
photographs.
While
no records document the use of enslaved labor at Treasury, a number of free
African Americans appear in the early employment rolls in both the skilled and
unskilled categories. The 1840 Census lists John McCarty, a stone cutter on the
East and Center wings, as a “free colored person.” Other African American
workers, John Taylor and John P. White were employed as bricklayers, Warren
Harris and James Lee as laborers, and John Mitchell as a cart driver.
While their careers are not documented, typically stone cutters and bricklayers
would serve apprenticeships and eventually graduate to a “journeyman’s” status
or self-employment. At the time, it was common for freed African
Americans to learn their skills as slaves and eventually purchase their
freedom.
The
Treasury Department hired Lewis E. Walker to serve as the official building
photographer during the construction of the South Wing in the 1850’s, and he
systematically documented the wing’s construction. The process was
repeated for the West and North wings (1860 -1869) and their construction is
documented in photos found in the collections of the American Antiquarian
Society, Library of Congress, and the National Archives.
Figure 2 - Possibly John Collins or William Moore, Laborers
Walker’s
photos show an integrated workforce on the Treasury site and complement period
records that capture African Americans physically constructing the Treasury
building. Their roles varied, as documented in the Washington D.C. directory
listings. Some of the images depict African American workers hoisting
columns into place in the South Wing in the 1850’s. Other images show
them working on the foundation of the West Wing in the 1850’s, as well.
There
are no known notations identifying the men who appear in the photographs, but
the Cart Driver shown in figure 1 could be John Mitchell, a documented worker
identified as a cart driver. Is it possible that the workers shown in
figure 2 are actually John Collins and William Moore, documented laborers
working in the building at that time? Could John Taylor or John P. White,
known bricklayers, actually be depicted in figure 3?
Figure 3 - Possibly John Taylor or John P. White, Bricklayers
Walker’s
photographs help document Treasury’s African American history by capturing
African American workers on the job site. While we may never know the
answer to those questions, we can say that these men, all free men of color,
worked to build the national historic landmark that is the Treasury Building,
and we honor their contributions to American history.
Monique Nelson is a member of the Office of the
Curator at the United States Department of the Treasury