I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6261 
To authorize the Director of the National Museum of African American 
History and Culture to support African American history education pro-
grams, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 14, 2021 
Mr. BOWMAN (for himself, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. 
PAYNE, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. DAVID 
SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. CARSON, Mr. 
CLEAVER, Mr. JONES, Ms. NORTON, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. CAROLYN B. 
MALONEY of New York, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mrs. WATSON COLE-
MAN, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. EVANS, Mr. NADLER, Ms. 
WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Ms. BUSH, Mr. BROWN of Mary-
land, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. DANNY 
K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. KAHELE, Mr. MCGOVERN, 
Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. 
ADAMS, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. 
HORSFORD, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. COHEN, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. 
AUCHINCLOSS, Ms. MENG, Mr. RUSH, Ms. BASS, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, 
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. OMAR, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. POCAN, Ms. 
PRESSLEY, and Mr. GREEN of Texas) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on House Administration 
A BILL 
To authorize the Director of the National Museum of African 
American History and Culture to support African Amer-
ican history education programs, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘African American His-
tory Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) AFRICAN
AMERICAN
HISTORY.—The term 
‘‘African American history’’ means the history of Af-
rican Americans, including the history of African 
peoples beginning in the African diaspora through 
the present day, that illuminates the passage to the 
Americas, slavery, abolition, reconstruction, and the 
civil rights movements. This history also includes a 
focus on the innovations and contributions of Afri-
can Americans to society both past and present, and 
the impact of African Americans on the history and 
development of the United States. 
(2) AFRICAN
AMERICAN
HISTORY
EDUCATION 
PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘African American history 
education program’’ means an educational program 
relating to African American life, art, history, and 
culture, including programs— 
(A) using digital, electronic, and inter-
active technologies; and 
(B) carried out in collaboration with ele-
mentary schools, secondary schools, and post-
secondary schools. 
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(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the National Museum of African 
American History and Culture. 
(4) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘early childhood 
education program’’, ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local 
educational agency’’, and ‘‘secondary school’’ have 
the meaning given such terms in section 8101 of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 7801). 
SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in accordance with 
any program of the National Museum of African American 
History and Culture established before, on, or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, may use the funds ap-
propriated under section 5 to carry out any of the fol-
lowing activities at the discretion of the Director: 
(1) Developing and making available accurate, 
relevant, and accessible resources to promote the un-
derstanding of African American history, which may 
include digital resources and other types of re-
sources, such as print resources and traveling exhibi-
tions. 
(2) Through a social justice and anti-bias lens, 
convening experts, providing opportunities for dis-
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course, and engaging with the public through pro-
gramming, educational resources, and social media. 
(3) Through a social justice and anti-bias lens, 
increasing resource capacity, technical support, and 
content creation to engage various audiences in per-
son and via online platforms. 
(4) Creating, expanding, and disseminating 
scholarly work through research, curricula, in-house 
and traveling exhibitions, publications, and program-
ming. 
(5) Providing language translation of the work 
of the National Museum of African American His-
tory and Culture, including scholarly work, research, 
traveling exhibitions, publications, programming, 
pamphlets, and other information distributed about 
activities funded under this Act. 
(6) Expanding the collection acquisition and 
collection access processes, including staffing, con-
servation, processing, and digitization. 
(7) Augmenting one or more of the following 
African American history education program activi-
ties: 
(A) Development, dissemination, and im-
plementation of principles of sound pedagogy 
for teaching about African American history. 
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(B) Provision of professional development, 
such as, but not limited to, through— 
(i) local, regional, and national work-
shops; 
(ii) teacher trainings or engagement 
in conjunction with African American his-
tory education centers and other appro-
priate partners; 
(iii) engagement with— 
(I) local educational agencies; 
and 
(II) early childhood education 
programs, elementary schools, and 
secondary schools that are inde-
pendent of any local educational agen-
cy; and 
(iv) operation and expansion of a 
teacher fellowship program to cultivate and 
support leaders in African American his-
tory education. 
(C) Engagement with State and local edu-
cation leaders to encourage the adoption of re-
sources supported under this Act into curricula 
across diverse disciplines. 
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(8) Creating, developing, implementing, repli-
cating, or taking to scale entrepreneurial, evidence- 
based, field-initiated innovations for museum im-
provement, and evaluating rigorously such innova-
tions. 
(b) ONLINE AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY EDU-
CATION RESOURCES.— 
(1) WEBSITE.—The Director may use the funds 
appropriated under section 5 to develop and main-
tain on the website of the National Museum of Afri-
can American History and Culture content des-
ignated for educators, students, and families to im-
prove their awareness and understanding of African 
American History. 
(2) INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION.—The Direc-
tor may use such funds to distribute information 
about the activities funded under this Act through 
the website of the National Museum of African 
American History and Culture, and may respond to 
inquiries for supplementary information concerning 
such activities. 
(c) CONTINUATION OF ACTIVITIES.—To the extent 
that the National Museum of African American History 
and Culture is engaged in an activity described in sub-
section (a) or (b) on the date of the enactment of this 
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Act, the Director may use the funds appropriated under 
section 5 to continue that activity. 
SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT AND BRIEFINGS. 
(a) REPORT.—Not later than February 1 of each 
year, the Director shall submit to the Congress, and make 
available to the public, a report describing how the funds 
made available under this Act have been used— 
(1) to create and promote educational activities; 
and 
(2) otherwise to carry out this Act. 
(b) BRIEFINGS.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date on which funding is first distributed under this Act, 
and annually thereafter, the Director or the Director’s 
designee shall brief the Committee on House Administra-
tion of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Rules and Administration of the Senate on the pro-
grams and activities carried out under this Act. 
(c) SUNSET.—Subsections (a) and (b) shall cease to 
be effective on September 30, 2026. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 and each of the 
4 succeeding fiscal years. 
Æ 
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