African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Act
Bill: S.3667 | Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod (D-OH)
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources

Summary:
African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Act
This bill directs the Department of the Interior to establish the United States African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Program within the National Park Service.
In carrying out the program, Interior may make grants to other federal agencies; state, local, and tribal governments; other public entities; educational institutions; historic preservation groups; and private nonprofit organizations for

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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``African-American Burial Grounds 
Preservation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) during the period beginning in 1619 and ending in 1865, 
        millions of African Americans throughout the United States were 
        enslaved;
            (2) slaveholders often--
                    (A) controlled where and how deceased slaves were 
                buried; and
                    (B) prohibited the burial of slaves on valuable 
                land;
            (3) as a result of the practices described in paragraph 
        (2), slave burial grounds were often confined to remote areas 
        or marginal property;
            (4) slave burial grounds--
                    (A) were rarely documented; and
                    (B) infrequently appear on historical maps;
            (5) a lack of accurate information is typical of African-
        American cemeteries originating before the Civil War;
            (6) following the end of slavery, many African-American 
        families continued to face restrictions on where the deceased 
        could be buried;
            (7) across many areas of the United States, local laws 
        segregated burial sites by race;
            (8) African-American burial grounds often failed to receive 
        the type of maintenance and recordkeeping that predominantly 
        White burial grounds enjoyed;
            (9) many African-American burial grounds from before and 
        after the Civil War are in a state of disrepair or 
        inaccessibility due to overgrowth of vegetation, crumbling 
        physical structures, and other challenges;
            (10) there is no official national record or database for 
        African-American burial ground locations;
            (11) the location of many African-American burial sites is 
        unknown;
            (12) as a result of the issues described in paragraphs (10) 
        and (11), the family members and descendants of the individuals 
        interred are unable to visit the burial sites to honor and 
        remember their ancestors;
            (13) abandoned African-American burial grounds are often 
        discovered when construction projects inadvertently disturb 
        human remains, which slows or halts completion of the projects;
            (14) the presence and location of historic African-American 
        burial grounds should be recorded;
            (15) there should be coordinated national, State, local, 
        and Tribal efforts to preserve and restore African-American 
        burial grounds;
            (16) African-American burial grounds are an integral 
        component of the heritage of the United States; and
            (17) establishing a program to preserve previously 
        abandoned, underserved, and other African-American burial 
        grounds would help communities identify and record burial 
        grounds and preserve local history, while better informing 
        development decisions and community planning.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to authorize the National Park Service 
to coordinate and facilitate Federal activities and non-Federal 
activities to identify, interpret, research, preserve, and record 
unmarked, previously abandoned, underserved, and other African-American 
burial grounds.

SEC. 4. UNITED STATES AFRICAN-AMERICAN BURIAL GROUNDS PRESERVATION 
              PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Subdivision 1 of division B of subtitle III of 
title 54, United States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 
3085 the following:

     ``CHAPTER 3086--UNITED STATES AFRICAN-AMERICAN BURIAL GROUNDS 
                          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.
``Sec. 308601. Definitions
    ``In this chapter:
            ``(1) Burial ground.--The term `burial ground' means any 
        natural or prepared physical location, whether originally 
        below, on, or above the surface of the earth, into which human 
        remains are deposited as a part of the death rite or ceremony 
        of a culture.
            ``(2) Historic.--The term `historic', with respect to a 
        property, means a property that can reasonably be considered to 
        date back at least 50 years.
            ``(3) Program.--The term `Program' means the United States 
        African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Program 
        established under section 308602(a).
``Sec. 308602. United States African-American Burial Grounds 
              Preservation Program
    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish within the 
Service, in accordance with this chapter, a program to be known as the 
`United States African-American Burial Grounds Preservation Program'.
    ``(b) Duties of Secretary.--In carrying out the Program, the 
Secretary, in consultation with the National Trust for Historic 
Preservation and members of the African-American heritage community, 
shall develop a program for the provision of grants in accordance with 
section 308603(a).
    ``(c) Donations.--The Secretary may accept monetary donations to 
further the purposes of this chapter.
    ``(d) Consent of Private Property Owner Required.--Burial grounds 
shall only be considered for a grant under the Program--
            ``(1) with the consent of the property owner; and
            ``(2) at the request of an individual, landowner, private 
        or nonprofit organization, State, Tribal, or local government, 
        or other entity.
``Sec. 308603. Authority to make grants
    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary may make grants to other Federal 
agencies, State, local, and Tribal governments, other public entities, 
educational institutions, historic preservation groups, and private 
nonprofit organizations in accordance with this chapter for--
            ``(1) the identification of historic African-American 
        burial grounds that may qualify for the Program;
            ``(2) the preservation and restoration of African-American 
        burial grounds;
            ``(3) the interpretation of African-American burial 
        grounds; and
            ``(4) related research and documentation for historic 
        African-American burial grounds.
    ``(b) Funding.--
            ``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated 
        to the Secretary to carry out this section $3,000,000 for each 
        of fiscal years 2023 through 2027.
            ``(2) Availability.--Any amounts made available for a 
        fiscal year under paragraph (1) that are not used during that 
        fiscal year shall be available for use under this section 
        during any subsequent fiscal year.
``Sec. 308604. Cooperative agreements and memoranda of understanding
    ``The Secretary may enter into cooperative agreements and memoranda 
of understanding with, and provide technical assistance to, the heads 
of other Federal agencies, States, units of local government, Tribal 
governments, regional governmental bodies, nonprofit organizations, 
educational institutions, and private entities--
            ``(1) to achieve the purposes of this chapter; and
            ``(2) to ensure effective coordination of the Federal 
        elements and non-Federal elements provided a grant or other 
        assistance under the Program with System units and programs of 
        the Service.
``Sec. 308605. Private property protection
    ``Nothing in this chapter--
            ``(1) authorizes the Secretary to require or affect the 
        management or use of private property without the written 
        consent of the owner of the private property; or
            ``(2) prohibits the Secretary from providing land 
        management guidance or requirements relating to private 
        property as a condition of a grant provided to the owner of the 
        private property under this chapter.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of chapters for title 54, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 
3085 the following:

``3086.  United States African-American Burial Grounds        308601''.
                            Preservation Program.
                                                       Calendar No. 621

117th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                                S. 3667

                          [Report No. 117-244]

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