I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1150
To establish the John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship to fund international
internships and research placements for early- to mid-career professionals
to study nonviolent movements to establish and protect civil rights around
the world.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY21, 2023
Ms. W
ILLIAMSof Georgia (for herself, Ms. MACE, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BLUNT
R
OCHESTER, Ms. BROWN, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Mr.
C
OHEN, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANS, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Mr.
G
OLDMANof New York, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. JOHNSONof
Georgia, Mr. K
HANNA, Mr. KILMER, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. PAYNE, Ms.
P
ORTER, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SEWELL,
Mr. S
HERMAN, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB,
Mr. T
ONKO, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. TRONE, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. WILD, Ms.
W
ILSONof Florida, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. WATERS, Mr.
D
AVIDSCOTTof Georgia, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. GREENof
Texas, Mr. A
LLRED, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms.
P
RESSLEY, Ms. DELBENE, and Mr. CARBAJAL) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To establish the John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship to fund
international internships and research placements for
early- to mid-career professionals to study nonviolent
movements to establish and protect civil rights around
the world.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘John Lewis Civil 2
Rights Fellowship Act of 2023’’. 3
SEC. 2. JOHN LEWIS CIVIL RIGHTS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 4
The Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act 5
of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.) is amended by adding 6
at the end the following: 7
‘‘SEC. 115. JOHN LEWIS CIVIL RIGHTS FELLOWSHIP PRO-8
GRAM. 9
‘‘(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established the 10
John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship Program (referred to 11
in this section as the ‘Fellowship Program’) within the J. 12
William Fulbright Educational Exchange Program. 13
‘‘(b) P
URPOSES.—The purposes of the Fellowship 14
Program are— 15
‘‘(1) to honor the legacy of Representative John 16
Lewis by promoting a greater understanding of the 17
history and tenets of nonviolent civil rights move-18
ments; and 19
‘‘(2) to advance foreign policy priorities of the 20
United States by promoting studies, research, and 21
international exchange in the subject of nonviolent 22
movements that established and protected civil 23
rights around the world. 24
‘‘(c) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Bureau of Educational 25
and Cultural Affairs (referred to in this section as the ‘Bu-26
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•HR 1150 IH
reau’) shall administer the Fellowship Program in accord-1
ance with policy guidelines established by the Fulbright 2
Foreign Scholarship Board, in consultation with the bina-3
tional Fulbright Commissions and United States Embas-4
sies. 5
‘‘(d) S
ELECTION OFFELLOWS.— 6
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Board shall annually 7
select qualified individuals to participate in the Fel-8
lowship Program. The Bureau may determine the 9
number of fellows selected each year, which, when-10
ever feasible, shall be not fewer than 25. 11
‘‘(2) O
UTREACH.—To the extent practicable, 12
the Bureau shall conduct outreach at institutions 13
the Bureau determines are likely to produce a range 14
of qualified applicants. 15
‘‘(e) F
ELLOWSHIPORIENTATION.—The Bureau shall 16
organize and administer a fellowship orientation that 17
shall— 18
‘‘(1) be held in Washington, DC, or at another 19
location selected by the Bureau; 20
‘‘(2) include programming to honor the legacy 21
of Representative John Lewis; and 22
‘‘(3) be held on an annual basis. 23
‘‘(f) S
TRUCTURE.— 24
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‘‘(1) WORK PLAN.—To carry out the purposes 1
described in subsection (b)(2)— 2
‘‘(A) each fellow selected pursuant to sub-3
section (d) shall arrange an internship or re-4
search placement— 5
‘‘(i) with a nongovernmental organiza-6
tion, academic institution, or other organi-7
zation approved by the Bureau; and 8
‘‘(ii) in a country with an operational 9
Fulbright U.S. Student Program; and 10
‘‘(B) the Bureau shall, for each fellow, ap-11
prove a work plan that identifies the target ob-12
jectives for the fellow, including specific duties 13
and responsibilities relating to those objectives. 14
‘‘(2) C
ONFERENCES; PRESENTATIONS.—Each 15
fellow shall— 16
‘‘(A) attend the fellowship orientation de-17
scribed in subsection (e); 18
‘‘(B) not later than the date that is 1 year 19
after the end of the fellowship period, attend a 20
fellowship summit organized and administered 21
by the Bureau, which, whenever feasible, shall 22
be held in a location of importance to the civil 23
rights movement in the United States and may 24
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•HR 1150 IH
coincide with other events facilitated by the Bu-1
reau; and 2
‘‘(C) at such summit, give a presentation 3
on lessons learned during the period of fellow-4
ship. 5
‘‘(3) F
ELLOWSHIP PERIOD .—Each fellowship 6
under this section shall continue for a period deter-7
mined by the Bureau, which, whenever feasible, shall 8
be not shorter than 10 months. 9
‘‘(g) F
ELLOWSHIPAWARD.—The Bureau shall pro-10
vide each fellow under this section with an allowance that 11
is equal to the amount needed for— 12
‘‘(1) the fellow’s reasonable costs during the fel-13
lowship period; and 14
‘‘(2) travel and lodging expenses related to at-15
tending the orientation and summit required under 16
subsection (e)(2). 17
‘‘(h) R
EPORTS.—Not later than 1 year after the date 18
of completion of the Fellowship Program by the initial co-19
hort of fellows selected under subsection (d), and on an 20
annual basis thereafter, the Secretary of State shall sub-21
mit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 22
of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Rela-23
tions of the Senate a report providing information on the 24
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implementation of the Fellowship Program, including 1
on— 2
‘‘(1) the demographics of the cohort of fellows 3
who completed a fellowship during the preceding 1- 4
year period; 5
‘‘(2) a description of internship and research 6
placements, and research projects selected, under 7
the Fellowship Program, including participant feed-8
back on program implementation and feedback of 9
the Department on lessons learned; 10
‘‘(3) a plan for factoring such lessons learned 11
into future programming; and 12
‘‘(4) an analysis of trends relating to the diver-13
sity of the cohorts of fellows and the topics of 14
projects completed over the course of the Fellowship 15
Program.’’. 16
SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO 17
THE MUTUAL EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL 18
EXCHANGE ACT OF 1961A. 19
Section 112(a) of the Mutual Educational and Cul-20
tural Exchange Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2460(a)) is 21
amended— 22
(1) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 23
inserting a semicolon; 24
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(2) in paragraph (9), by striking the period and 1
inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 2
(3) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(10) the John Lewis Civil Rights Fellowship 4
Program established under section 115, which pro-5
vides funding for international internships and re-6
search placements for early- to mid-career individ-7
uals from the United States to study nonviolent civil 8
rights movements in self-arranged placements with 9
universities or nongovernmental organizations in for-10
eign countries.’’. 11
SEC. 4. SUNSET. 12
The authority to carry out the John Lewis Civil 13
Rights Fellowship Program established under section 115 14
of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 15
1961 (22 U.S.C. 2451 et seq.), as added by section 2, 16
shall expire on the date that is 7 years after the date of 17
the enactment of this Act. 18
Æ
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