Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB844 Compare Versions

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1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 844
5	5	To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants to eligible entities
6	6	to carry out educational programs that include the history of peoples
7	7	of African descent in the settling and founding of America, the economic
8	8	and political environments that led to the development, institutionaliza-
9	9	tion, and abolition of slavery and its impact on all Americans, the
10	10	exploration and expansion of America, impact on and contributions to
11	11	the development and enhancement of American life, United States his-
12	12	tory, literature, the economy, politics, body of laws, and culture, and
13	13	for other purposes.
14	14	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
15	15	JANUARY31, 2025
16	16	Mrs. B
17	17	EATTY(for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. BISHOP, Ms.
18	18	B
19	19	ONAMICI, Ms. BROWN, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana, Ms.
20	20	C
21	21	ASTORof Florida, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CLARKEof New
22	22	York, Mr. C
23	23	LEAVER, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Mr. DAVISof
24	24	North Carolina, Ms. D
25	25	EGETTE, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr.
26	26	D
27	27	OGGETT, Mr. EVANSof Pennsylvania, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. LOIS
28	28	F
29	29	RANKELof Florida, Mr. FROST, Mr. GOLDMANof New York, Mr.
30	30	G
31	31	REENof Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. IVEY,
32	32	Mr. J
33	33	ACKSONof Illinois, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-
34	34	D
35	35	OVE, Mr. KENNEDYof New York, Ms. KELLYof Illinois, Mr. LARSEN
36	36	of Washington, Mr. L
37	37	YNCH, Mr. MAGAZINER, Mrs. MCBATH, Mrs.
38	38	M
39	39	CIVER, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. MENENDEZ, Ms. MENG, Ms. NORTON, Ms.
40	40	P
41	41	LASKETT, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mrs. SYKES,
42	42	Mr. T
43	43	HANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, Ms.
44	44	W
45	45	ASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms.
46	46	W
47	47	ATERS, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia, and Ms.
48	48	W
49	49	ILSONof Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
50	50	the Committee on Education and Workforce
51	51	A BILL
52	52	To authorize the Secretary of Education to award grants
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55	55	•HR 844 IH
56	56	to eligible entities to carry out educational programs
57	57	that include the history of peoples of African descent
58	58	in the settling and founding of America, the economic
59	59	and political environments that led to the development,
60	60	institutionalization, and abolition of slavery and its im-
61	61	pact on all Americans, the exploration and expansion
62	62	of America, impact on and contributions to the develop-
63	63	ment and enhancement of American life, United States
64	64	history, literature, the economy, politics, body of laws,
65	65	and culture, and for other purposes.
66	66	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
67	67	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
68	68	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
69	69	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Black History is Amer-4
70	70	ican History Act’’. 5
71	71	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
72	72	Congress finds the following: 7
73	73	(1) Since before its founding, the United States 8
74	74	of America has benefited from and been enhanced by 9
75	75	the integral role African Americans have played in 10
76	76	our country’s history and contributions to the world. 11
77	77	(2) African-American history does not begin in 12
78	78	the Americas. It can be traced back to the great em-13
79	79	pires of West Africa beginning in A.D. 790, which 14
80	80	aided the establishment and survival of colonies in 15
81	81	America and the New World, generally, and fought 16
82	82	against European oppression. 17
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86	86	(3) African Americans have represented a sig-1
87	87	nificant portion of the American population from 2
88	88	nearly 20 percent at the signing of the Declaration 3
89	89	of Independence, almost all of whom, if not all, were 4
90	90	victims of the largest forced deportations in recorded 5
91	91	history, the transatlantic slave trade and resulting 6
92	92	African diaspora. It is estimated over 10,000,000 7
93	93	free Africans were enslaved between the mid-fif-8
94	94	teenth and nineteenth centuries during the diaspora. 9
95	95	(4) Slavery was not abolished and African 10
96	96	Americans not acknowledged as American citizens 11
97	97	until the mid-nineteenth century, servitude did not 12
98	98	abate their contributions to the settlement, growth, 13
99	99	and development of the United States, which contin-14
100	100	ued through Post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow, indus-15
101	101	trialization, World Wars and conflicts, innovation 16
102	102	and inventiveness, constitutional progress, and every 17
103	103	aspect of American society. 18
104	104	(5) During the civil rights movement of the 19
105	105	1950s and 1960s, civil rights leaders and activists 20
106	106	championed the fight for equal rights, including vot-21
107	107	ing rights, for all African Americans. 22
108	108	(6) The seminal case of Brown v. Board of 23
109	109	Education, decided May 17, 1954, found that the 24
110	110	decades-old policy of separate but equal access to 25
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114	114	education was inherently unequal, and the segrega-1
115	115	tion of Black public-school students was no longer 2
116	116	the law of the land. 3
117	117	(7) African Americans continue to fight dis-4
118	118	crimination, structural racism, economic inequities, 5
119	119	and benign and overt omission of the integral role 6
120	120	they played in our country’s rise to greatness. 7
121	121	(8) A number of States have passed educational 8
122	122	laws requiring Black history be incorporated into the 9
123	123	curricula of all public schools. 10
124	124	(9) Congress established the National Museum 11
125	125	of African American History and Culture in 2003 12
126	126	after decades of efforts to promote and highlight the 13
127	127	contributions of African Americans, which serves as 14
128	128	an indication of the national importance of exam-15
129	129	ining Black history. Since opening in 2016, the mu-16
130	130	seum has worked to educate the public on the Amer-17
131	131	ican story through the lens of African-American his-18
132	132	tory and culture and provide educators, parents, 19
133	133	caregivers, and students with tools and resources on 20
134	134	the African-American experience, its national im-21
135	135	pact, race, racism, and the importance of tolerance 22
136	136	and inclusivity. 23
137	137	(10) According to a 2015 research study con-24
138	138	ducted by the National Museum of African Amer-25
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142	142	ican History and Culture and reported in Research 1
143	143	into the State of African American History and Cul-2
144	144	ture in K–12 Public Schools, key findings indicated 3
145	145	that teachers considered Black history as influential 4
146	146	in understanding the complexity of United States 5
147	147	history. 6
148	148	(11) The importance of Black history is re-7
149	149	flected in the National Assessment of Educational 8
150	150	Progress United States History framework, from 9
151	151	pre-colonization through contemporary America. 10
152	152	(12) The Federal Government, through support 11
153	153	for educational activities of national museums estab-12
154	154	lished under Federal law, can assist teachers in ef-13
155	155	forts to incorporate historically accurate instruction 14
156	156	on the comprehensive history of African Americans 15
157	157	and students in their exploration of Black history as 16
158	158	an integral part of American history. 17
159	159	SEC. 3. AMERICAN HISTORY AND CIVICS EDUCATION. 18
160	160	(a) P
161	161	ROGRAMAUTHORIZED.—Section 2231(a) of the 19
162	162	Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 20
163	163	U.S.C. 6661(a)) is amended— 21
164	164	(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 22
165	165	inserting ‘‘, which shall include Black history,’’ after 23
166	166	‘‘American history’’; and 24
167	167	(2) in paragraph (2)— 25
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171	171	(A) by inserting ‘‘which shall include Black 1
172	172	history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’; and 2
173	173	(B) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 3
174	174	Black history’’ after ‘‘traditional American his-4
175	175	tory’’. 5
176	176	(b) P
177	177	RESIDENTIAL ANDCONGRESSIONALACADEMIES 6
178	178	FORAMERICANHISTORY ANDCIVICS.—Section 2232 of 7
179	179	the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 8
180	180	U.S.C. 6662) is amended— 9
181	181	(1) in subsection (a)— 10
182	182	(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, which 11
183	183	shall include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American 12
184	184	History’’; and 13
185	185	(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, which 14
186	186	shall include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American 15
187	187	History’’; 16
188	188	(2) in subsection (c)(1), by inserting ‘‘, which 17
189	189	shall include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American his-18
190	190	tory’’; 19
191	191	(3) in subsection (e)— 20
192	192	(A) in paragraph (1)— 21
193	193	(i) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 22
194	194	Black history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; 23
195	195	(ii) in subparagraph (A)— 24
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199	199	(I) by inserting ‘‘, which shall in-1
200	200	clude Black history,’’ after ‘‘teachers 2
201	201	of American history’’; and 3
202	202	(II) by inserting ‘‘, which shall 4
203	203	include Black history,’’ after ‘‘subjects 5
204	204	of American history’’; and 6
205	205	(iii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 7
206	206	‘‘, which shall include Black history,’’ after 8
207	207	‘‘American history’’; 9
208	208	(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘, which 10
209	209	shall include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American 11
210	210	history’’; and 12
211	211	(C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, and 13
212	212	with the Smithsonian Institution’s National 14
213	213	Museum of African American History and Cul-15
214	214	ture initiative providing programs and resources 16
215	215	for educators and students’’ after ‘‘National 17
216	216	Parks’’; and 18
217	217	(4) in subsection (f)— 19
218	218	(A) by inserting ‘‘, which shall include 20
219	219	Black history,’’ after ‘‘American history’’; 21
220	220	(B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, 22
221	221	which shall include Black history,’’ after 23
222	222	‘‘American history’’; and 24
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226	226	(C) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 1
227	227	which shall include Black history,’’ after 2
228	228	‘‘American history’’. 3
229	229	(c) N
230	230	ATIONALACTIVITIES.—Section 2233 of the Ele-4
231	231	mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 5
232	232	6663) is amended— 6
233	233	(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘which shall 7
234	234	include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’; 8
235	235	and 9
236	236	(2) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘which shall 10
237	237	include Black history,’’ after ‘‘American history,’’. 11
238	238	(d) N
239	239	ATIONALASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL 12
240	240	P
241	241	ROGRESS.—Section 303(b)(2)(D) of the National As-13
242	242	sessment of Educational Progress Authorization Act (20 14
243	243	U.S.C. 9622(b)(2)(D)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(which 15
244	244	shall include Black history)’’ after ‘‘history,’’. 16
245	245	Æ
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