[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6261 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6261
To authorize the Director of the National Museum of African American
History and Culture to support African American history education
programs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 14, 2021
Mr. Bowman (for himself, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr.
Payne, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Johnson of Texas, Mr. David Scott of
Georgia, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Carson, Mr. Cleaver, Mr.
Jones, Ms. Norton, Ms. Tlaib, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Ms.
Moore of Wisconsin, Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Khanna, Ms. Lee of
California, Mr. Evans, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Mr.
Cardenas, Ms. Bush, Mr. Brown of Maryland, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Connolly, Ms.
Wilson of Florida, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr.
Kahele, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms.
McCollum, Ms. Adams, Mr. Levin of Michigan, Mrs. Beatty, Mr.
Butterfield, Mr. Horsford, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Kelly of
Illinois, Mr. Auchincloss, Ms. Meng, Mr. Rush, Ms. Bass, Ms. Ocasio-
Cortez, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Ms. Omar, Mr. Gallego, Mr. Pocan, Ms.
Pressley, and Mr. Green of Texas) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on House Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Director of the National Museum of African American
History and Culture to support African American history education
programs, 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 ``African American History Act''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) African american history.--The term ``African American
history'' means the history of African Americans, including the
history of African peoples beginning in the African diaspora
through the present day, that illuminates the passage to the
Americas, slavery, abolition, reconstruction, and the civil
rights movements. This history also includes a focus on the
innovations and contributions of African Americans to society
both past and present, and the impact of African Americans on
the history and development of the United States.
(2) African american history education program.--The term
``African American history education program'' means an
educational program relating to African American life, art,
history, and culture, including programs--
(A) using digital, electronic, and interactive
technologies; and
(B) carried out in collaboration with elementary
schools, secondary schools, and postsecondary schools.
(3) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
(4) ESEA terms.--The terms ``early childhood education
program'', ``elementary school'', ``local educational agency'',
and ``secondary school'' have the meaning given such terms in
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
(a) In General.--The Director, in accordance with any program of
the National Museum of African American History and Culture established
before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act, may use the
funds appropriated under section 5 to carry out any of the following
activities at the discretion of the Director:
(1) Developing and making available accurate, relevant, and
accessible resources to promote the understanding of African
American history, which may include digital resources and other
types of resources, such as print resources and traveling
exhibitions.
(2) Through a social justice and anti-bias lens, convening
experts, providing opportunities for discourse, and engaging
with the public through programming, educational resources, and
social media.
(3) Through a social justice and anti-bias lens, increasing
resource capacity, technical support, and content creation to
engage various audiences in person and via online platforms.
(4) Creating, expanding, and disseminating scholarly work
through research, curricula, in-house and traveling
exhibitions, publications, and programming.
(5) Providing language translation of the work of the
National Museum of African American History and Culture,
including scholarly work, research, traveling exhibitions,
publications, programming, pamphlets, and other information
distributed about activities funded under this Act.
(6) Expanding the collection acquisition and collection
access processes, including staffing, conservation, processing,
and digitization.
(7) Augmenting one or more of the following African
American history education program activities:
(A) Development, dissemination, and implementation
of principles of sound pedagogy for teaching about
African American history.
(B) Provision of professional development, such as,
but not limited to, through--
(i) local, regional, and national
workshops;
(ii) teacher trainings or engagement in
conjunction with African American history
education centers and other appropriate
partners;
(iii) engagement with--
(I) local educational agencies; and
(II) early childhood education
programs, elementary schools, and
secondary schools that are independent
of any local educational agency; and
(iv) operation and expansion of a teacher
fellowship program to cultivate and support
leaders in African American history education.
(C) Engagement with State and local education
leaders to encourage the adoption of resources
supported under this Act into curricula across diverse
disciplines.
(8) Creating, developing, implementing, replicating, or
taking to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-
initiated innovations for museum improvement, and evaluating
rigorously such innovations.
(b) Online African American History Education Resources.--
(1) Website.--The Director may use the funds appropriated
under section 5 to develop and maintain on the website of the
National Museum of African American History and Culture content
designated for educators, students, and families to improve
their awareness and understanding of African American History.
(2) Information distribution.--The Director may use such
funds to distribute information about the activities funded
under this Act through the website of the National Museum of
African American History and Culture, and may respond to
inquiries for supplementary information concerning such
activities.
(c) Continuation of Activities.--To the extent that the National
Museum of African American History and Culture is engaged in an
activity described in subsection (a) or (b) on the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director may use the funds appropriated
under section 5 to continue that activity.
SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT AND BRIEFINGS.
(a) Report.--Not later than February 1 of each year, the Director
shall submit to the Congress, and make available to the public, a
report describing how the funds made available under this Act have been
used--
(1) to create and promote educational activities; and
(2) otherwise to carry out this Act.
(b) Briefings.--Not later than 6 months after the date on which
funding is first distributed under this Act, and annually thereafter,
the Director or the Director's designee shall brief the Committee on
House Administration of the House of Representatives and the Committee
on Rules and Administration of the Senate on the programs and
activities carried out under this Act.
(c) Sunset.--Subsections (a) and (b) shall cease to be effective on
September 30, 2026.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act
$2,000,000 for fiscal year 2022 and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal
years.
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