Some of the artworks reflect the reality that most of the nation’s prominent founders were also enslavers; there are 17 depictions of George Washington, nine of Thomas Jefferson and five of James Madison. But there are also 15 depictions of Christopher Columbus, who never set foot in North America and enslaved Indigenous people in the Caribbean. The majority of the artworks honor lesser-known figures who were deeply involved in the African slave trade, the enslavement of Indigenous people, forced plantation labor and the war fought to preserve slavery. Two statues portray physicians who experimented on enslaved people.
None of the works are accompanied by any acknowledgment that their subjects enslaved people.
Many of the works depict multiple enslavers, like the painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the Capitol Rotunda.
Thirty-four of the 47 men depicted were slaveholders.
A total of 141 enslavers, 13 Confederates and six possible enslavers are depicted in 139 artworks in the Capitol. There is some overlap; most of the Confederates were also enslavers.
Since 2009, three sculptures and four paintings depicting Confederates have been removed from the Capitol; another, depicting the Confederate attorney Uriah Milton Rose, is slated for removal. The remaining Confederates honored are Alexander Stephens, Crawford W. Long, Edward Douglass White, James Zachariah George, Jefferson Davis, John Bell, John C. Breckinridge, John E. Kenna, John Tyler, Joseph Wheeler, Wade Hampton and Zebulon Vance.
Thirty-two of the depictions of enslavers and Confederates, plus another two depictions of possible enslavers, are part of the National Statuary Hall Collection, created in 1864. Each state can contribute two statues depicting notable deceased residents for display in the Capitol as part of the collection. A 2000 law allowed states to remove and replace statues with the approval of the state’s legislature and governor. Neither Congress nor the office of the Architect of the Capitol, which maintains the statues, has the power to remove them. (The collection is distinct from the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall room, though most — but not all — of the statues in the room are also part of the National Statuary Hall Collection.)
Twenty-three states have at least one statue depicting an enslaver or Confederate. Another two have statues depicting possible enslavers. For nine states, both of their statues honor men in these categories.
All 11 states that joined the Confederacy have at least one statue depicting an enslaver or Confederate. But the homages to enslavers are by no means restricted to these states: Except for New Hampshire, all of the original 13 states have statues depicting enslavers or possible enslavers.