A bill to authorize assistance for the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum and Justice Learning Center.

Summary: National Great Black Americans Commemoration Act of 2004 - Directs the Attorney General, acting through the Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice, to make a grant to the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland, to be used only for carrying out programs relating to civil rights and juvenile justice through the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum and Justice Learning Center.

Authorizes appropriations in a specified amount to remain available through FY 2009.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Great Black Americans 
Commemoration Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
        (1) Black Americans have served honorably in Congress, in 
    senior executive branch positions, in the law, the judiciary, and 
    other fields, yet their record of service is not well known by the 
    public, is not included in school history lessons, and is not 
    adequately presented in the Nation's museums.
        (2) The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc. in Baltimore, 
    Maryland, a nonprofit organization, is the Nation's first wax 
    museum presenting the history of great Black Americans, including 
    those who have served in Congress, in senior executive branch 
    positions, in the law, the judiciary, and other fields, as well as 
    others who have made significant contributions to benefit the 
    Nation.
        (3) The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc. plans to expand its 
    existing facilities to establish the National Great Blacks in Wax 
    Museum and Justice Learning Center, which is intended to serve as a 
    national museum and center for presentation of wax figures and 
    related interactive educational exhibits portraying the history of 
    great Black Americans.
        (4) The wax medium has long been recognized as a unique and 
    artistic means to record human history through preservation of the 
    faces and personages of people of prominence, and historically, wax 
    exhibits were used to commemorate noted figures in ancient Egypt, 
    Babylon, Greece, and Rome, in medieval Europe, and in the art of 
    the Italian renaissance.
        (5) The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc. was founded in 1983 by 
    Drs. Elmer and Joanne Martin, 2 Baltimore educators who used their 
    personal savings to purchase wax figures, which they displayed in 
    schools, churches, shopping malls, and festivals in the mid-
    Atlantic region.
        (6) The goal of the Martins was to test public reaction to the 
    idea of a Black history wax museum and so positive was the response 
    over time that the museum has been heralded by the public and the 
    media as a national treasure.
        (7) The museum has been the subject of feature stories by CNN, 
    the Wall Street Journal, the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post, 
    the New York Times, the Chicago Sun Times, the Dallas Morning News, 
    the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the Afro American Newspaper, 
    Crisis, Essence Magazine, and others.
        (8) More than 300,000 people from across the Nation visit the 
    museum annually.
        (9) The new museum will carry on the time honored artistic 
    tradition of the wax medium; in particular, it will recognize the 
    significant value of this medium to commemorate and appreciate 
    great Black Americans whose faces and personages are not widely 
    recognized.
        (10) The museum will employ the most skilled artisans in the 
    wax medium, use state-of-the-art interactive exhibition 
    technologies, and consult with museum professionals throughout the 
    Nation, and its exhibits will feature the following:
            (A) Blacks who have served in the Senate and House of 
        Representatives of the United States, including those who 
        represented constituencies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 
        Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
        Virginia during the 19th century.
            (B) Blacks who have served in the judiciary, in the 
        Department of Justice, as prominent attorneys, in law 
        enforcement, and in the struggle for equal rights under the 
        law.
            (C) Black veterans of various military engagements, 
        including the Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen, and the 
        role of Blacks in the settlement of the western United States.
            (D) Blacks who have served in senior executive branch 
        positions, including members of Presidents' Cabinets, Assistant 
        Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries of Federal agencies, and 
        Presidential advisers.
            (E) Other Blacks whose accomplishments and contributions to 
        human history during the last millennium and to the Nation 
        through more than 400 years are exemplary, including Black 
        educators, authors, scientists, inventors, athletes, clergy, 
        and civil rights leaders.
        (11) The museum plans to develop collaborative programs with 
    other museums, serve as a clearinghouse for training, technical 
    assistance, and other resources involving use of the wax medium, 
    and sponsor traveling exhibits to provide enriching museum 
    experiences for communities throughout the Nation.
        (12) The museum has been recognized by the State of Maryland 
    and the City of Baltimore as a preeminent facility for presenting 
    and interpreting Black history, using the wax medium in its highest 
    artistic form.
        (13) The museum is located in the heart of an area designated 
    as an empowerment zone, and is considered to be a catalyst for 
    economic and cultural improvements in this economically 
    disadvantaged area.
SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR NATIONAL GREAT BLACKS IN WAX MUSEUM AND JUSTICE 
LEARNING CENTER.
    (a) Assistance for Museum.--Subject to subsection (b), the Attorney 
General, acting through the Office of Justice Programs of the 
Department of Justice, shall, from amounts made available under 
subsection (c), make a grant to the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc. in 
Baltimore, Maryland, to be used only for carrying out programs relating 
to civil rights and juvenile justice through the National Great Blacks 
in Wax Museum and Justice Learning Center.
    (b) Grant Requirements.--To receive a grant under subsection (a), 
the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc. shall submit to the Attorney 
General a proposal for the use of the grant, which shall include 
detailed plans for the programs referred to in subsection (a).
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $5,000,000, to remain available 
through the end of fiscal year 2009.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.