I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1359
To direct the Director of the National Museum of African American History
and Culture to conduct a study on Black history education efforts in
public elementary and secondary schools, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY13, 2025
Mrs. W
ATSONCOLEMAN(for herself, Mrs. MCIVER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. JOHN-
SONof Georgia, Mr. EVANSof Pennsylvania, Mr. NADLER, Mr. MCGOV-
ERN, Mr. JACKSONof Illinois, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Mr. GREEN
of Texas, Mr. C
ARTERof Louisiana, Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin, Mr. CAR-
SON, Mr. COHEN, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. CHERFILUS-
M
CCORMICK, Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY,
Ms. W
ATERS, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. KELLYof Illinois, Ms. WILSONof
Florida, Mr. T
URNERof Texas, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. BROWN, Ms.
P
RESSLEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr.
T
HANEDAR, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Ms. LEEof Pennsylvania, and
Mr. G
RIJALVA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on House Administration
A BILL
To direct the Director of the National Museum of African
American History and Culture to conduct a study on
Black history education efforts in public elementary and
secondary schools, and for other purposes.
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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•HR 1359 IH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Black History Matters 2
Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. STUDY AND REPORT ON BLACK HISTORY EDU-4
CATION. 5
(a) S
TUDY.— 6
(1) I
N GENERAL.—During the period described 7
in paragraph (2), the Director of the National Mu-8
seum of African American History and Culture (re-9
ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Director’’) shall conduct 10
a study on Black history education efforts in public 11
elementary and secondary schools. 12
(2) P
ERIOD.—The Director shall, with respect 13
to the study required under paragraph (1)— 14
(A) begin such study not later than 180 15
days after the date of the enactment of this 16
Act; and 17
(B) complete such study not later than 3 18
years after the date of the enactment of this 19
Act. 20
(b) E
LEMENTS.—In conducting the study under sub-21
section (a), the Director shall— 22
(1) identify States and local educational agen-23
cies that require Black history education as part of 24
the curriculum taught in public elementary and sec-25
ondary schools; 26
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•HR 1359 IH
(2) identify States and local educational agen-1
cies that do not require Black history education as 2
part of the curriculum taught in public elementary 3
and secondary schools; 4
(3) assess the quality of Black history edu-5
cation provided by public elementary and secondary 6
schools, including through the qualitative and quan-7
titative analysis of such indicators as— 8
(A) in-class discussion; 9
(B) educational activities conducted out-10
side the classroom, including homework assign-11
ments; and 12
(C) project based learning; 13
(4) assess the types and quality of instructional 14
materials used to teach students about Black his-15
tory; 16
(5) examine the duration and comprehensive-17
ness of any Black history-related courses or lessons 18
provided by public elementary and secondary 19
schools; and 20
(6) analyze the approaches used by such schools 21
to assess students’ knowledge of Black history, in-22
cluding the use of traditional and nontraditional as-23
sessments. 24
(c) R
EPORT.— 25
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•HR 1359 IH
(1) IN GENERAL.—Following the completion of 1
the study under subsection (a), the Director shall 2
prepare and submit to Congress a report on the re-3
sults of the study. 4
(2) D
EADLINE FOR SUBMITTAL .—The report 5
required under paragraph (1) shall be submitted not 6
later than 180 days after the completion of the 7
study under subsection (a)(2)(B). 8
(d) D
EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 9
(1) ESEA
TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 10
school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary 11
school’’, and ‘‘State’’ have the meanings given those 12
terms in section 8101 of the Elementary and Sec-13
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 14
(2) B
LACK HISTORY.—The term ‘‘Black his-15
tory’’ means the study and stories of Black life in 16
the United States and around the world, with a spe-17
cific focus on the triumphs and struggles (including 18
political, social, and cultural achievements) of Afri-19
can Americans throughout the United States. 20
(3) B
LACK HISTORY EDUCATION .—The term 21
‘‘Black history education’’ means educational activi-22
ties that are specifically intended— 23
(A) to improve students’ awareness and 24
understanding of the history of people of Afri-25
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•HR 1359 IH
can descent, especially as it relates to United 1
States history; 2
(B) to educate students on the lessons of 3
chattel slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, 4
and the Civil Rights movement as a means to 5
raise awareness about the importance of pre-6
venting genocide, hate, and bigotry against any 7
group of people; and 8
(C) to study the history of racism, its deep 9
historical roots, the use of discrimination and 10
propaganda that target the Black people, and 11
the evolving nature of white supremacy over 12
time. 13
(4) P
ROJECT BASED LEARNING .—The term 14
‘‘project based learning’’ means a teaching method 15
through which students learn by actively engaging in 16
real-world and personally meaningful projects. 17
Æ
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