II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3667 

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 and Mr. ROMNEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘African-American Bur5 ial Grounds Preservation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) during the period beginning in 1619 and 

2 ending in 1865, millions of African Americans 

3 throughout the United States were enslaved; 

4 (2) slaveholders often— 

5 (A) controlled where and how deceased 

6 slaves were buried; and 

7 (B) prohibited the burial of slaves on valu8 able land; 

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

10 paragraph (2), slave burial grounds were often con11 fined to remote areas or marginal property; 

12 (4) slave burial grounds— 

13 (A) were rarely documented; and 

14 (B) infrequently appear on historical maps; 

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

16 African-American cemeteries originating before the 

17 Civil War; 

18 (6) following the end of slavery, many African19 American families continued to face restrictions on 

20 where the deceased could be buried; 

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

22 local laws segregated burial sites by race; 

23 (8) African-American burial grounds often 

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1 keeping that predominantly White burial grounds 

2 enjoyed; 

3 (9) many African-American burial grounds 

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

5 of disrepair or inaccessibility due to overgrowth of 

6 vegetation, crumbling physical structures, and other 

7 challenges; 

8 (10) there is no official national record or data9 base for African-American burial ground locations; 

10 (11) the location of many African-American 

11 burial sites is unknown; 

12 (12) as a result of the issues described in para13 graphs (10) and (11), the family members and de14 scendants of the individuals interred are unable to 

15 visit the burial sites to honor and remember their 

16 ancestors; 

17 (13) abandoned African-American burial 

18 grounds are often discovered when construction 

19 projects inadvertently disturb human remains, which 

20 slows or halts completion of the projects; 

21 (14) the presence and location of historic Afri22 can-American burial grounds should be recorded; 

23 (15) there should be coordinated national, 

24 State, local, and Tribal efforts to preserve and re25 store African-American burial grounds; 


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1 (16) African-American burial grounds are an 

2 integral component of the heritage of the United 

3 States; and 

4 (17) establishing a program to preserve pre5 viously abandoned, underserved, and other African6 American burial grounds would help communities 

7 identify and record burial grounds and preserve local 

8 history, while better informing development decisions 

9 and community planning. 

10 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

11 The purpose of this Act is to authorize the National 

12 Park Service to coordinate and facilitate Federal activities 

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

14 preserve, and record unmarked, previously abandoned, un15 derserved, and other African-American burial grounds. 

16 SEC. 4. UNITED STATES AFRICAN-AMERICAN BURIAL 

17 GROUNDS PRESERVATION PROGRAM. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subdivision 1 of division B of sub19 title III of title 54, United States Code, is amended by 

20 inserting after chapter 3085 the following: 

21 ‘‘CHAPTER 3086—UNITED STATES AFRI22 CAN-AMERICAN BURIAL GROUNDS 

23 PRESERVATION PROGRAM 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘308601. Definitions. 

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

‘‘308603. Authority to make grants. 


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‘‘308604. Cooperative agreements and memoranda of understanding. 

‘‘308605. Private property protection. 

1 ‘‘§ 308601. Definitions 

2 ‘‘In this chapter: 

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

4 ground’ means any natural or prepared physical lo5 cation, whether originally below, on, or above the 

6 surface of the earth, into which human remains are 

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

8 a culture. 

9 ‘‘(2) HISTORIC.—The term ‘historic’, with re10 spect to a property, means a property that can rea11 sonably be considered to date back at least 50 years. 

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

13 the United States African-American Burial Grounds 

14 Preservation Program established under section 

15 308602(a). 

16 ‘‘§ 308602. United States African-American Burial 

17 Grounds Preservation Program 

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

19 within the Service, in accordance with this chapter, a pro20 gram to be known as the ‘United States African-American 

21 Burial Grounds Preservation Program’. 

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

23 Program, the Secretary, in consultation with the National 

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1 can-American heritage community, shall develop a pro2 gram for the provision of grants in accordance with section 

3 308603(a). 

4 ‘‘(c) DONATIONS.—The Secretary may accept mone5 tary donations to further the purposes of this chapter. 

6 ‘‘(d) CONSENT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNER RE7 QUIRED.—Burial grounds shall only be considered for a 

8 grant under the Program— 

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

10 and 

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

12 private or nonprofit organization, State, Tribal, or 

13 local government, or other entity. 

14 ‘‘§ 308603. Authority to make grants 

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

16 to other Federal agencies, State, local, and Tribal govern17 ments, other public entities, educational institutions, his18 toric preservation groups, and private nonprofit organiza19 tions in accordance with this chapter for— 

20 ‘‘(1) the identification of historic African-Amer21 ican burial grounds that may qualify for the Pro22 gram; 

23 ‘‘(2) the preservation and restoration of Afri24 can-American burial grounds; 


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

2 burial grounds; and 

3 ‘‘(4) related research and documentation for 

4 historic African-American burial grounds. 

5 ‘‘(b) FUNDING.— 

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

7 appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this sec8 tion $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 

9 through 2027. 

10 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY.—Any amounts made avail11 able for a fiscal year under paragraph (1) that are 

12 not used during that fiscal year shall be available for 

13 use under this section during any subsequent fiscal 

14 year. 

15 ‘‘§ 308604. Cooperative agreements and memoranda 

16 of understanding 

17 ‘‘The Secretary may enter into cooperative agree18 ments and memoranda of understanding with, and provide 

19 technical assistance to, the heads of other Federal agen20 cies, States, units of local government, Tribal govern21 ments, regional governmental bodies, nonprofit organiza22 tions, educational institutions, and private entities— 

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

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(2) to ensure effective coordination of the Fed2 eral elements and non-Federal elements provided a 

3 grant or other assistance under the Program with 

4 System units and programs of the Service. 

5 ‘‘§ 308605. Private property protection 

6 ‘‘Nothing in this chapter— 

7 ‘‘(1) authorizes the Secretary to require or af8 fect the management or use of private property with9 out the written consent of the owner of the private 

10 property; or 

11 ‘‘(2) prohibits the Secretary from providing 

12 land management guidance or requirements relating 

13 to private property as a condition of a grant pro14 vided to the owner of the private property under this 

15 chapter.’’. 

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

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

18 after the item relating to chapter 3085 the following: 

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

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

Æ 


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