[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 453 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 453

 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 9, 2009

    Mr. Wamp (for himself and Mr. Lewis of Georgia) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 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 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds as follows:
            (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 Supreme Court's decision 
        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 upon which it was 
        built.
            (3) In 1950, the parents of 5 Clinton, Tennessee, children 
        filed a lawsuit to gain entrance into Clinton High School. At 
        the time, Tennessee and Anderson County law required the 
        segregation of secondary schools. The case became known as 
        McSwain v. Anderson County.
            (4) The case was dismissed by the Federal District Court 
        under the ``separate but equal'' doctrine; the case was 
        appealed by the parents, but suspended pending a Supreme Court 
        ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.
            (5) Following the Supreme Court's decision 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 no later than the fall term, 1956.
            (6) On August 25, 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 effect the integration of a southern, state 
        operated school.
            (7) 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.
            (8) 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.
            (9) In 1958, the newly integrated Clinton High School was 
        destroyed by dynamite that most assumed was placed by 
        segregationists. The community had the students back in school 
        in four days at an abandoned elementary school in neighboring 
        Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Anderson County rebuilt Clinton High 
        School and it and 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 shall conduct a 
study of the site of Green McAdoo School in Clinton, Tennessee, to 
evaluate the national significance, suitability, and feasibility of 
designating the site as a unit of the National Park System.
    (b) Criteria.--In conducting the study authorized by this Act, the 
Secretary shall use the criteria for the study of areas for potential 
inclusion in the National Park System contained in 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 area.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 3 years after the date on which funds 
are made available for the study, 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 on the 
findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the study.
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