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African slaves built the U.S. Capitol building. It's a fact that has beleaguered local Bayside activist, Mandingo Tshaka, because the building bore no recognition of its slave labor origins until 2008. This week U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside) introduced a bill to erect a statue of "The Unknown Slave" in the main area of the Capitol Visitor's Center.

Last year, Tshaka made a call to Ackerman in the hopes that the Congressman could do something to memorialize the hundreds of slaves who were rented from local owners from the 1790s through the 1800s and worked in stone quarries, or as masons, carpenters, plasterers, painters, glazers, artists and sculptors.

Tshaka said he first read about the slaves' work in Randall Robertson's book "The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks." A special congressional task force that included U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), former U.S. Sen. Richard Santorum (R-Penn.) and historians confirmed Tshaka's claims by researching the rental documents of slave owners.

"This information must be taught in the schools. It was not taught when I was a boy, it was never mentioned," Tshaka said. Even Ackerman who used to teach social studies was unaware of that history.

Following the task force's findings, Congress passed a law declaring a 20,000-square foot hallway inside the new Capitol Visitor Center, "Emancipation Hall."

But Tshaka thought it a meager gesture. When he went to the Capitol for the dedication, he became infuriated; the ceremony, he recalls, had only one black speaker, and the mood was off for the occasion.

"The music had no soul in it," Tshaka said. "None of the military music spoke to my people. All those churches in Washington? They couldn't have found something? It had nothing to do with enslaved Africans, and I was pissed off."

Even worse, Emancipation Hall had no marker in memoriam of the African Slaves. Ackerman called Tshaka recently to break the news to him that a marker would be placed in the hallway. He also came through this week when he announced his sponsorship of a bill to build a memorial statue in the hallway. The contract would be awarded by bid within 180 days of the bill's passing.

"The creation of this statue would be the least we can do to pay tribute to the blood, sweat and tears of the slaves who help build the Capitol of the free world" Ackerman said. "Throughout our nation's history, little has been known about the role that slave labor played in the construction of the U.S. Capitol. Hopefully, the displaying of this statue would continue Congress' efforts to remedy this shameful omission from history and ensure that the story of these slaves is not only told, but never forgotten."

Tshaka has another dream for the Capitol District: he believes that because winters were more severe at that time, many slaves encamped outside died from the cold.

"There's a graveyard in the immediate vicinity of the Capitol. It should be found and it should be treated as hallowed ground as Arlington," Tshaka said.