[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2827 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2827

To amend title 54, United States Code, to establish within the National 
Park Service the U.S. African-American Burial Grounds Network, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 7, 2019

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 54, United States Code, to establish within the National 
Park Service the U.S. African-American Burial Grounds Network, 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 ``U.S. African-American Burial Grounds 
Network 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) creating and maintaining a network of 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, preserve, and record unmarked, 
previously abandoned, underserved, and other African-American burial 
grounds.

SEC. 4. U.S. AFRICAN-AMERICAN BURIAL GROUNDS NETWORK 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--U.S. AFRICAN-AMERICAN BURIAL GROUNDS NETWORK

``Sec.
``308601. Definitions.
``308602. U.S. African-American Burial Grounds Network.
``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) Network.--The term `Network' means the U.S. African-
        American Burial Grounds Network established under section 
        308602(a).
``Sec. 308602. U.S. African-American Burial Grounds Network
    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall establish within the 
Service, in accordance with this chapter, a program to be known as the 
`U.S. African-American Burial Grounds Network'.
    ``(b) Inclusions.--The Network shall include burial grounds 
determined by the Secretary to relate to the historic African-American 
experience from applications for inclusion submitted by an individual, 
private or nonprofit organization, State, local, or Tribal government, 
or other entity.
    ``(c) Duties of Secretary.--In carrying out the Network, the 
Secretary shall have the following duties:
            ``(1) Review existing and new studies and reports in 
        considering sites for inclusion in the Network.
            ``(2) Provide technical assistance to, and work in 
        partnership with, the public, Federal, State, local, and Tribal 
        governments, other public entities, educational institutions, 
        and private and nonprofit organizations in identifying, 
        documenting, preserving, researching, evaluating, and 
        interpreting African-American burial grounds.
            ``(3) Engage in consultation and public engagement with 
        descendant, local, and other communities historically 
        associated with identified burial grounds by geography, 
        genetics, or culture.
            ``(4) In accordance with section 307103, provide technical 
        assistance and support to ensure that the locations of unmarked 
        and otherwise unrecorded African-American burial grounds are 
        documented.
            ``(5) Make the information documented under paragraph (4) 
        available in a public database, except in circumstances in 
        which the Secretary determines that the privacy and safety of 
        the burial ground warrants the information being protected.
            ``(6) Develop a program to train States, units of local 
        government, regional governmental bodies, organizations, 
        educational institutions, and private entities to carry out the 
        purposes of this chapter.
            ``(7) Produce and disseminate appropriate educational and 
        training materials (such as handbooks, maps, interpretive 
        guides, or electronic information) relating to--
                    ``(A) African-American burial ground identification 
                methods;
                    ``(B) best practices for caring for artifacts;
                    ``(C) developing interpretive tours and exhibits;
                    ``(D) preserving burial ground landscapes; and
                    ``(E) heritage tourism initiatives and sources for 
                grants.
            ``(8) Produce and disseminate appropriate educational 
        materials relating to African-American burial grounds through 
        curriculum-based experiences, lesson plans, and primary 
        materials.
            ``(9)(A) Create and adopt an official, uniform symbol or 
        device for the Network; and
            ``(B) issue regulations for the use of the symbol or device 
        adopted under subparagraph (A).
    ``(d) Donations.--The Secretary may accept monetary donations to 
further the purposes of this chapter.
    ``(e) Consent of Private Property Owner Required.--Burial grounds 
shall only be considered for addition to the Network--
            ``(1) with the consent of the property owner; and
            ``(2) at the request of an individual, landowner, private 
        or nonprofit organization, State or local government, or other 
        entity.
``Sec. 308603. Authority to make grants
    ``The Secretary may make grants to other Federal agencies, State, 
local, and Tribal governments, other public entities, educational 
institutions, and private nonprofit organizations in accordance with 
this chapter for--
            ``(1) the identification of African-American burial grounds 
        that may qualify for the Network;
            ``(2) the preservation and restoration of African-American 
        burial grounds that have been included in the Network;
            ``(3) the interpretation of African-American burial 
        grounds; and
            ``(4) the conduct of related research and documentation for 
        African-American burial grounds that have been included in the 
        Network.
``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, 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 of the Network described in 
        section 308602 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 or other assistance 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.  U.S. African-American Burial Ground Network........  308601''.
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