[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2207 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2207

 To direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and 
feasibility of designating Green McAdoo School in Clinton, Tennessee as 
      a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 19, 2007

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and 
feasibility of designating Green McAdoo School in Clinton, Tennessee as 
      a unit of the National Park System, 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 ``Green McAdoo School National 
Historic Site Study Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the formerly segregated all-black Green McAdoo School 
        and all-white Clinton High School, both located in Clinton, 
        Tennessee, played a vital role in the school desegregation 
        crisis that preceded and followed the decision of the Supreme 
        Court in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954;
            (2) Green McAdoo School opened as the Clinton Colored 
        School in 1935 and was renamed in 1947 to honor Green McAdoo, a 
        buffalo soldier who once owned the land on which the school was 
        built;
            (3) in 1950, the parents of 5 Clinton, Tennessee, children 
        filed a lawsuit to gain entrance into Clinton High School;
            (4) at the time of the lawsuit, Tennessee and Anderson 
        County law required the segregation of secondary schools;
            (5) the lawsuit became known as ``McSwain v. Anderson 
        County'';
            (6) the lawsuit, which was dismissed by the Federal 
        District Court under the ``separate but equal'' doctrine, was 
        appealed by the parents, but was suspended pending a Supreme 
        Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education;
            (7) following the decision of the Supreme Court in Brown v. 
        Board of Education, which abolished the ``separate but equal'' 
        doctrine, the Federal District Court in Tennessee issued an 
        order on January 4, 1956, requiring desegregation of Anderson 
        County schools by not later than the 1956 fall term;
            (8) on August 27, 1956, 12 students from Green McAdoo 
        School met at the school before walking together to the all-
        white Clinton High School to become the first African-American 
        students to integrate a Southern, State-operated school;
            (9) on September 1, 1956, Clinton, Tennessee, became the 
        first Southern town to be occupied by National Guard troops in 
        an effort to quell violence sparked by protestors from all over 
        the United States who were opposed to school integration;
            (10) in 1957, Bobby Cain, a former Green McAdoo student, 
        became the first African-American to earn a diploma from an 
        integrated school following the Brown v. Board of Education 
        ruling;
            (11) in 1958, the newly integrated Clinton High School was 
        destroyed by dynamite that most assumed was placed by 
        segregationists;
            (12) 4 days after Clinton High School was destroyed, the 
        community had the students back in school at an abandoned 
        elementary school in neighboring Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and
            (13) Clinton High School, which was rebuilt by Anderson 
        County, and the Green McAdoo School are the only remaining 
        schools associated with the Clinton desegregation crisis.

SEC. 3. STUDY.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this 
Act as the ``Secretary'') shall conduct a study of the site of Green 
McAdoo School in Clinton, Tennessee, (referred to in this Act as the 
``site'') to evaluate--
            (1) the national significance of the site; and
            (2) the suitability and feasibility of designating the site 
        as a unit of the National Park System.
    (b) Criteria.--In conducting the study under subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall use the criteria for the study of areas for potential 
inclusion in the National Park System under section 8 of Public Law 91-
383 (16 U.S.C. 1a-5).
    (c) Contents.--The study authorized by this Act shall--
            (1) determine the suitability and feasibility of 
        designating the site as a unit of the National Park System;
            (2) include cost estimates for any necessary acquisition, 
        development, operation, and maintenance of the site; and
            (3) identify alternatives for the management, 
        administration, and protection of the site.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 3 years after the date on which funds 
are made available to carry out the study under subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources of the Senate a report that describes--
            (1) the findings and conclusions of the study; and
            (2) any recommendations of the Secretary.
                                 <all>