[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 169 (Thursday, November 20, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2349-E2350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 H.R. 2205: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. GREGORY W. MEEKS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 19, 2003

  Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my unparalleled 
support for this bill. However, I do not feel that this bill is 
complete in its entirety. Provisions concerning a feasibility study for 
a future sister museum facility at the site of the African Burial 
Ground in New York City, which were present in the Lewis/Watts 
bipartisan piece of legislation in the last session, are not included 
in this current bill. The erection of the African Burial Ground 
International Memorial Museum and

[[Page E2350]]

Research Center in lower Manhattan is a goal that I intend to work 
feverishly on with my New York colleagues and others. Such a facility 
would pay homage to those souls who were brought to this country to 
help build it, while under enslavement. Such a facility would join the 
Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Museum of the American Indian, the 
World Trade Center site, and other great New York City landmarks as a 
national and international symbol that tells America's full story of 
freedom, the quest for freedom, and the openness of our society. Most 
important, the study of African culture through the results of DNA 
testing on the African Burial Grounds will help to further educate and 
enlighten our citizens to a culture that is central to the building of 
this proud nation.
  As the Lewis/Watts bill reflected in a Finding, the Secretary of the 
Smithsonian declared in 1998 that the African Burial Ground site 
provided the ``perfect'' opportunity to dissect the institution of 
slavery in this country--urban, rural, northern, and southern--
including the aspects of the international trade. The Burial Grounds in 
New York are home to the remains of 20,000 enslaved Africans. These men 
and women were first generation African Americans, who had to endure 
inhumane conditions aboard slave ships, before they were forced into 
labor.
  I attended the ceremonies of October 3rd and 4th at the African 
Burial Ground commemorating the reinterment of some 430 sets of remains 
that had been under study at Howard University for the last decade. 
Thousands of people were also in attendance for this event, signaling a 
clear indication of the powerful feelings of respect that lies with our 
citizens for an African sanctum in lower Manhattan.
  I feel that, ultimately, the new national museum should follow the 
model of the National Museum of the American Indian, with facilities at 
both Washington and New York City. The facility in New York, in 
combination with the magnificent facility to be created here in 
Washington, would have an overall national and international impact of 
breathtaking scope and scale. As evident during the ceremonies, an 
African Burial Ground museum facility would also play a significant 
role in the revitalization of lower Manhattan in this post-9/11 world, 
with the hopes that it will become a major national and international 
visitor's mecca that would join with other New York sites in bringing 
millions of people, and with them, an economic boom to the entire area.
  I whole-heartedly believe that the African Burial Ground is a true 
national treasure. It is unique in this nation and all the world as an 
archaeological site, and a site of unparalleled significance, 
symbolism, and power. A site and museum facility of this magnitude of 
importance must be part of any national museum, and it must be part of 
New York's African Burial Grounds.
  I would like to thank John Lewis for his long fight to make the dream 
of a National Museum of African American History and Culture a reality. 
I would also like to thank my distinguished colleagues from Kansas and 
Connecticut, Senators Brownback and Dodd, for leading these efforts in 
the Senate.

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