II 

Calendar No. 621 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3667 

[Report No. 117–244] 

To amend title 54, United States Code, to establish within the National 

Park Service the United States African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2022 

Mr. BROWN (for himself, Mr. ROMNEY, and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

DECEMBER 12, 2022 

Reported by Mr. MANCHIN, without amendment 

A BILL 

To amend title 54, United States Code, to establish within 

the National Park Service the United States AfricanAmerican Burial Grounds Preservation Program, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘African-American Bur3 ial Grounds Preservation Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) during the period beginning in 1619 and 

7 ending in 1865, millions of African Americans 

8 throughout the United States were enslaved; 

9 (2) slaveholders often— 

10 (A) controlled where and how deceased 

11 slaves were buried; and 

12 (B) prohibited the burial of slaves on valu13 able land; 

14 (3) as a result of the practices described in 

15 paragraph (2), slave burial grounds were often con16 fined to remote areas or marginal property; 

17 (4) slave burial grounds— 

18 (A) were rarely documented; and 

19 (B) infrequently appear on historical maps; 

20 (5) a lack of accurate information is typical of 

21 African-American cemeteries originating before the 

22 Civil War; 

23 (6) following the end of slavery, many African24 American families continued to face restrictions on 

25 where the deceased could be buried; 


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1 (7) across many areas of the United States, 

2 local laws segregated burial sites by race; 

3 (8) African-American burial grounds often 

4 failed to receive the type of maintenance and record5 keeping that predominantly White burial grounds 

6 enjoyed; 

7 (9) many African-American burial grounds 

8 from before and after the Civil War are in a state 

9 of disrepair or inaccessibility due to overgrowth of 

10 vegetation, crumbling physical structures, and other 

11 challenges; 

12 (10) there is no official national record or data13 base for African-American burial ground locations; 

14 (11) the location of many African-American 

15 burial sites is unknown; 

16 (12) as a result of the issues described in para17 graphs (10) and (11), the family members and de18 scendants of the individuals interred are unable to 

19 visit the burial sites to honor and remember their 

20 ancestors; 

21 (13) abandoned African-American burial 

22 grounds are often discovered when construction 

23 projects inadvertently disturb human remains, which 

24 slows or halts completion of the projects; 


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1 (14) the presence and location of historic Afri2 can-American burial grounds should be recorded; 

3 (15) there should be coordinated national, 

4 State, local, and Tribal efforts to preserve and re5 store African-American burial grounds; 

6 (16) African-American burial grounds are an 

7 integral component of the heritage of the United 

8 States; and 

9 (17) establishing a program to preserve pre10 viously abandoned, underserved, and other African11 American burial grounds would help communities 

12 identify and record burial grounds and preserve local 

13 history, while better informing development decisions 

14 and community planning. 

15 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

16 The purpose of this Act is to authorize the National 

17 Park Service to coordinate and facilitate Federal activities 

18 and non-Federal activities to identify, interpret, research, 

19 preserve, and record unmarked, previously abandoned, un20 derserved, and other African-American burial grounds. 

21 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES AFRICAN-AMERICAN BURIAL 

22 GROUNDS PRESERVATION PROGRAM. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subdivision 1 of division B of sub24 title III of title 54, United States Code, is amended by 

25 inserting after chapter 3085 the following: 


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1 ‘‘CHAPTER 3086—UNITED STATES AFRI2 CAN-AMERICAN BURIAL GROUNDS 

3 PRESERVATION PROGRAM 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘308601. Definitions. 

‘‘308602. United States African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Program. 

‘‘308603. Authority to make grants. 

‘‘308604. Cooperative agreements and memoranda of understanding. 

‘‘308605. Private property protection. 

4 ‘‘§ 308601. Definitions 

5 ‘‘In this chapter: 

6 ‘‘(1) BURIAL GROUND.—The term ‘burial 

7 ground’ means any natural or prepared physical lo8 cation, whether originally below, on, or above the 

9 surface of the earth, into which human remains are 

10 deposited as a part of the death rite or ceremony of 

11 a culture. 

12 ‘‘(2) HISTORIC.—The term ‘historic’, with re13 spect to a property, means a property that can rea14 sonably be considered to date back at least 50 years. 

15 ‘‘(3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘Program’ means 

16 the United States African-American Burial Grounds 

17 Preservation Program established under section 

18 308602(a). 

19 ‘‘§ 308602. United States African-American Burial 

20 Grounds Preservation Program 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

22 within the Service, in accordance with this chapter, a proVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Dec 12, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3667.RS S3667

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1 gram to be known as the ‘United States African-American 

2 Burial Grounds Preservation Program’. 

3 ‘‘(b) DUTIES OF SECRETARY.—In carrying out the 

4 Program, the Secretary, in consultation with the National 

5 Trust for Historic Preservation and members of the Afri6 can-American heritage community, shall develop a pro7 gram for the provision of grants in accordance with section 

8 308603(a). 

9 ‘‘(c) DONATIONS.—The Secretary may accept mone10 tary donations to further the purposes of this chapter. 

11 ‘‘(d) CONSENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNER RE12 QUIRED.—Burial grounds shall only be considered for a 

13 grant under the Program— 

14 ‘‘(1) with the consent of the property owner; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(2) at the request of an individual, landowner, 

17 private or nonprofit organization, State, Tribal, or 

18 local government, or other entity. 

19 ‘‘§ 308603. Authority to make grants 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make grants 

21 to other Federal agencies, State, local, and Tribal govern22 ments, other public entities, educational institutions, his23 toric preservation groups, and private nonprofit organiza24 tions in accordance with this chapter for— 


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1 ‘‘(1) the identification of historic African-Amer2 ican burial grounds that may qualify for the Pro3 gram; 

4 ‘‘(2) the preservation and restoration of Afri5 can-American burial grounds; 

6 ‘‘(3) the interpretation of African-American 

7 burial grounds; and 

8 ‘‘(4) related research and documentation for 

9 historic African-American burial grounds. 

10 ‘‘(b) FUNDING.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

12 appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this sec13 tion $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 

14 through 2027. 

15 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY.—Any amounts made avail16 able for a fiscal year under paragraph (1) that are 

17 not used during that fiscal year shall be available for 

18 use under this section during any subsequent fiscal 

19 year. 

20 ‘‘§ 308604. Cooperative agreements and memoranda 

21 of understanding 

22 ‘‘The Secretary may enter into cooperative agree23 ments and memoranda of understanding with, and provide 

24 technical assistance to, the heads of other Federal agen25 cies, States, units of local government, Tribal governVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:14 Dec 12, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3667.RS S3667

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1 ments, regional governmental bodies, nonprofit organiza2 tions, educational institutions, and private entities— 

3 ‘‘(1) to achieve the purposes of this chapter; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(2) to ensure effective coordination of the Fed6 eral elements and non-Federal elements provided a 

7 grant or other assistance under the Program with 

8 System units and programs of the Service. 

9 ‘‘§ 308605. Private property protection 

10 ‘‘Nothing in this chapter— 

11 ‘‘(1) authorizes the Secretary to require or af12 fect the management or use of private property with13 out the written consent of the owner of the private 

14 property; or 

15 ‘‘(2) prohibits the Secretary from providing 

16 land management guidance or requirements relating 

17 to private property as a condition of a grant pro18 vided to the owner of the private property under this 

19 chapter.’’. 

20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 

21 for title 54, United States Code, is amended by inserting 

22 after the item relating to chapter 3085 the following: 

‘‘3086. United States African-American Burial Grounds Preservation 

Program ........................................................................308601’’. 


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Calendar No. 621 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3667 

[Report No. 117–244] 

A BILL 

To amend title 54, United States Code, to establish 

vation Program, and for other purposes. States African-American Burial Grounds Preserwithin the National Park Service the United 

DECEMBER 12, 2022 

Reported without amendment 


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