1. Short title This Act may be cited as the The original legislation awarding a historic Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to Africans and their descendants enslaved within our country from August 20, 1619, to December 6, 1865 . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Human beings were systematically abducted from the continent of Africa and placed against their will onto ships that would cross the Atlantic Ocean. (2) These persons were chained within the holds of ships in horrendous conditions for the duration of the transatlantic journey, which lasted up to six months. (3) Upon arrival in North America, they were forced into labor among the English and European colonies that would later become the United States. (4) Their enslavement was concentrated on farms and plantations that produced crops such as cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane. (5) The practice of slavery continued up to and past the eventual American Revolution against England and the founding of the United States of America. (6) In the ensuing decades, slavery persisted primarily in States where the economy was based significantly on farming. (7) The treatment of enslaved people continued to be horrendous in nature, including exploitation, family separation, rape, torture, and degradation, among other cruelties. (8) Slave labor was essential to the functioning of many farms and plantations and therefore was essential to the growth of the United States economy as a whole. (9) Slave labor was used to build notable buildings and monuments in the United States, including the United States Capitol Building, the White House, the Washington Monument, Mount Vernon, which was the home of George Washington, and Monticello, which was the home of Thomas Jefferson. (10) The profits from and involvement of slave labor were also essential to the construction of the Smithsonian Institution, Wall Street, Harvard University, Georgetown University, and Fort Sumter. (11) It has been estimated that the total economic value of slave labor is between $5.9