A statue of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass is finally going to get a home in the halls of Congress.
The statue, which currently sits near a routine security checkpoint in a city office building, will represent the District of Columbia and join statues from the nation's 50 states. The honor for the Civil War-era leader has been a longtime coming.
The former slave and educated abolitionist battled for the rights of all people, winning world recognition, but an effort to get the Douglass statue a ceremonial spot in Congress has languished for years until recently.
Democratic D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) reached a bipartisan compromise to have Douglass moved to Capitol Hill as soon as President Barack Obama signs the law.
The 50 states each have two statues in Congress. D.C. and the U.S. territories are getting one space as part of the compromise, so D.C.’s statue of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, who laid out Washington's original streets, will not be moved to Capitol Hill as hoped.
Ward 2 D.C. Council member Jack Evans, who helped get funding for the statues, said he plans to put L’Enfant at the city's Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue.
