1.This Act may be cited as the
Green McAdoo School National Historic
Site Study Act of 2007
.
2.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.
3.
(a)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)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)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)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.
1.This Act may be cited as the
Green McAdoo School National Historic
Site Study Act of 2008
.
2.Green McAdoo School
National Historic Site Special Resource Study
(a)The Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this Act as
the Secretary
) shall conduct a special resource 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)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(c) of
Public Law
91–383 (16 U.S.C. 1a–5(c)).
(c)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)Not
later than 3 years after the date on which funds are made available to carry
out this Act, 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.
June 16, 2008
Reported with an amendment