II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 730
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess the
suitability and feasibility of establishing the African Burial Ground Inter-
national Memorial Museum and Educational Center at the African Burial
Ground National Monument, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY25, 2025
Mrs. G
ILLIBRANDintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study
to assess the suitability and feasibility of establishing
the African Burial Ground International Memorial Mu-
seum and Educational Center at the African Burial
Ground National Monument, 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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘African Burial Ground 4
International Memorial Museum and Educational Center 5
Study Act’’. 6
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1
In this Act: 2
(1) M
USEUM.—The term ‘‘Museum’’ means the 3
African Burial Ground International Memorial Mu-4
seum and Educational Center. 5
(2) N
ATIONAL MONUMENT .—The term ‘‘Na-6
tional Monument’’ means the African Burial Ground 7
National Monument in the city of New York, New 8
York. 9
(3) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 10
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-11
rector of the National Park Service. 12
(4) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 13
of New York. 14
SEC. 3. AFRICAN BURIAL GROUND INTERNATIONAL MEMO-15
RIAL MUSEUM AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER 16
STUDY. 17
(a) S
TUDY.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta-19
tion with State and local historic preservation offi-20
cers, State and local historical societies, State and 21
local tourism offices, and other appropriate organi-22
zations and government agencies, shall conduct a 23
study to assess the suitability and feasibility of es-24
tablishing a museum and educational center at the 25
National Monument, to be known as the ‘‘African 26
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Burial Ground International Memorial Museum and 1
Educational Center’’— 2
(A) to serve as a permanent living memo-3
rial and special tribute— 4
(i) to the enslaved who are buried at 5
the African Burial Ground; and 6
(ii) to other Africans who were 7
enslaved in the United States and other 8
parts of the world; 9
(B) to reflect on the significance of the Af-10
rican Burial Ground; 11
(C) to examine the African cultural tradi-12
tions brought to the United States by the 13
enslaved; 14
(D) to explore in-depth the institution of 15
slavery in the United States and other parts of 16
the world; 17
(E) to provide a space for— 18
(i) permanent and temporary exhibits; 19
and 20
(ii) the collection and study of arti-21
facts and documents; 22
(F) to encourage collaboration between the 23
Museum and the National Museum of African 24
American History and Culture, other museums, 25
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historically Black colleges and universities, his-1
torical societies, educational institutions, and 2
other appropriate entities and organizations, 3
such as the African Burial Ground Memorial 4
Foundation, including collaboration with respect 5
to— 6
(i) the development of cooperative pro-7
grams and exhibitions, including through 8
digital, electronic, and interactive tech-9
nologies; 10
(ii) the identification, management, 11
and care of Museum collections; and 12
(iii) the training of Museum and Na-13
tional Park Service professionals and other 14
persons concerned with heritage preserva-15
tion; and 16
(G) in addition to any collaboration en-17
couraged under subparagraph (F), to be associ-18
ated with the National Museum of African 19
American History and Culture, in a manner to 20
be determined by the Secretary, in consultation 21
with the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 22
Institution. 23
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(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The study conducted 1
under paragraph (1) shall include analysis, docu-2
mentation, and determinations regarding whether— 3
(A) there is an assemblage of collections to 4
be acquired and housed in the Museum that— 5
(i) represent distinctive aspects of Af-6
rican cultural traditions brought to the 7
United States by the enslaved; 8
(ii) are worthy of recognition, con-9
servation, and interpretation; 10
(iii) are important to any identified 11
themes of the Museum; 12
(iv) include DNA samples of well-pre-13
served human remains that would enable 14
researchers to trace home ‘‘roots’’ in Afri-15
ca of those individuals buried at the Afri-16
can Burial Ground; and 17
(v) are unlike any other anthropo-18
logical collection in other symbolic sites; 19
(B) the Museum provides outstanding op-20
portunities— 21
(i) to understand how the inter-22
national slave trade contributed to the Af-23
rican diaspora; 24
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(ii) to explore in-depth the institution 1
of slavery, as practiced in other parts of 2
the world and in urban, rural, northern, 3
and southern parts of the United States; 4
and 5
(iii) to help the people of the United 6
States understand the past and honor the 7
history of all people in the United States; 8
(C) residents, business interests, State and 9
local governments, and nonprofit organizations, 10
such as the African Burial Ground Memorial 11
Foundation— 12
(i) are involved in the planning of the 13
Museum; 14
(ii) have developed a conceptual finan-15
cial plan that outlines the roles of all par-16
ticipants in the Museum, including the 17
Federal Government; and 18
(iii) have demonstrated support for 19
the designation of the Museum; 20
(D) the Secretary of the Interior, the Ad-21
ministrator of the General Services Administra-22
tion, or other potential management entities 23
would be best suited to operate the Museum; 24
and 25
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(E) the public supports the proposed loca-1
tion for the Museum at— 2
(i) 22 Reade Street, which is adjacent 3
to the National Monument; or 4
(ii) any area within the National 5
Monument other than the area described 6
in clause (i). 7
(b) R
EPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the date 8
on which funds are first made available to carry out this 9
Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on En-10
ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com-11
mittee on Natural Resources of the House of Representa-12
tives a report that describes— 13
(1) the results of the study under subsection 14
(a), including a description of— 15
(A) the availability and cost of collections 16
to be acquired and housed in the Museum; 17
(B) criteria for evaluating possible loca-18
tions for the Museum in the State; and 19
(C) the costs of acquiring property for, 20
constructing, operating, and maintaining the 21
Museum; and 22
(2) any conclusions and recommendations of the 23
Secretary. 24
Æ
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