[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1233 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
S.1233
One Hundred Eighth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twentieth day of January, two thousand and four
An Act
To authorize assistance for the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum and
Justice Learning Center.
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 ``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.