[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 91 (Thursday, June 19, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8237-S8238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU:
  S. 1292. A bill to establish a servitude and emancipation archival 
research clearinghouse in the National Archives; to the Committee on 
Governmental Affairs.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise today on the 138th anniversary of 
the day that Major General Gordon Granger and his Union soldiers 
arrived in Galveston, TX. They brought the news that the war had ended 
and that the enslaved were now free. Since its origin in 1865, the 
observance of June 19th as African American Emancipation Day, or 
Juneteenth, is the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery.
  It took two and a half years after the effective date of the 
Emancipation Proclamation set forth by President Lincoln for the news 
of freedom to arrive in Texas. Of course, this kind of delay in finding 
out about new national policy, especially a bold new initiative set 
forth by Executive Order, would be absurd in our present society. We 
are now part of the information age and access to the most up-to-date 
news is commonplace. Unfortunately, African Americans who attempt to 
trace their genealogy face undue delay in obtaining the necessary 
documents to try and piece together their unique heritage. For this 
reason, I am proposing the Servitude and Emancipation Archival Research 
Clearinghouse, SEARCH, Act of 2003. This bill establishes a national 
database within the National Archives and Records Administration, NARA, 
housing various documents that would assist those in search of a 
history that because of slavery, can not easily be found in the most 
commonly searched registered and census records.
  Traditionally, someone researching their genealogy would try looking 
up wills and land deeds; however, enslaved African Americans were 
prohibited from owning property. In fact, African Americans were 
considered property, so the name of former slave owners would have to 
be identified with the hopes that the owner kept record of pertinent 
information, such as births and deaths. In most cases, If records 
exist, many African Americans were not associated with last names, thus 
making them more difficult to trace. With slaves not being listed by 
name, this also precludes the use of the most popular and major source 
of genealogical research, the United States

[[Page S8238]]

Census. Even the use of letters, diaries, and other first-person 
recordings of slave simply do not exist because slaves could not 
legally learn to read or write.
  We may think after 1865, African Americans could then begin to use 
traditional genealogical records like voter registrations and school 
records. However, African Americans did not immediately begin to 
participate in may of the privileges of citizenship, including voting 
and attending school. Discrimination meant the prevention of African 
American siting on juries or owning businesses. Segregation meant 
segregated neighborhoods, schools, churches, clubs, and fraternal 
organizations. Therefore, many of the records were also segregated. For 
example, some telephone directories in South Carolina did not include 
African Americans in the regular alphabetical listing, but at the end 
of the book. An African American must maneuver these distinctive 
nuances in order to conduct proper genealogical research. In my own 
State of Louisiana, descendants of the 9th Calvary Regiment and the 
25th Infantry Regiment, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, would have to 
know to look in the index of the United States Colored Troops and not 
the index of the State Military Regiments.
  Abraham Lincoln said, ``a man who cares nothing about his past can 
care little about his future.'' In 1965, Alex Haley stumbled upon the 
names of his maternal great-grandparents while going through post-Civil 
War records at the National Archives here in Washington, D.C. This 
discovery led to an 11-year journey that resulted in the milestone of 
literary history, Roots. By providing $5 million for the National 
Historical Publications and Records Commission to establish and 
maintain a national database, the SEARCH Act proposes to significantly 
reduce the time and painstaking efforts of those African Americans who 
truly care about their American past, and care enough to contribute to 
the American future. This bill also seeks to authorize $5 million for 
States, colleges, and universities to preserve, catalogue, and index 
records locally.
  In a democracy, records matter. The mission of NARA is to ensure that 
anyone can have access to the records that matter to them. The SEARCH 
Act of 2003 helps to fulfill that mission by helping African Americans 
to navigate the genealogical process, given the circumstances unique to 
the African American experience. No longer should any American have to 
wait to find out about information leading to freedom.
  I hope my colleagues will join me in celebrating Juneteenth this year 
by passing this measure, and I ask unanimous consent that the text of 
the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1292

       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 ``Servitude and Emancipation 
     Archival Research ClearingHouse Act of 2003'' or the ``SEARCH 
     Act of 2003''.

     SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF DATABASE.

       (a) In General.--The Archivist of the United States shall 
     establish, as a part of the National Archives, a national 
     database consisting of historic records of servitude and 
     emancipation in the United States to assist African Americans 
     in researching their genealogy.
       (b) Maintenance.--The database established by this Act 
     shall be maintained by the National Historical Publications 
     and Records Commission.

     SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated--
       (1) $5,000,000 to establish the national database 
     authorized by this Act; and
       (2) $5,000,000 to provide grants to States and colleges and 
     universities to preserve local records of servitude and 
     emancipation.
                                 ______