What This Bill Does
This bill allows the Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture to use federal funds to support education programs about African American history. The bill authorizes money to develop teaching resources, provide teacher training, and create online educational content. The director can decide which activities to fund based on the available money.
Who It Affects
- The Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Elementary school teachers and secondary school teachers
- Students in early childhood programs, elementary schools, secondary schools, and colleges
- Families seeking to learn about African American history
- Local educational agencies (school districts and similar organizations)
Key Provisions
- The Director may develop and distribute resources about African American history through digital formats, print materials, and traveling exhibitions (Sec. 3(a)(1))
- The Director may provide professional development and teacher training programs, including workshops and a teacher fellowship program to support leaders in African American history education (Sec. 3(a)(7)(B))
- The Director may create and maintain a website with educational content for educators, students, and families to improve their understanding of African American history (Sec. 3(b)(1))
- The Director must submit an annual report to Congress and the public describing how the funds were used, with briefings to House and Senate committees required within 6 months and annually thereafter (Sec. 4(a) and (b))
- Reporting requirements end on September 30, 2028 (Sec. 4(c))
What Changes
If this bill becomes law, the National Museum of African American History and Culture will have federal funding available to expand its African American history education programs. The museum can develop new teaching materials, train teachers, create online resources, and hold public programs focused on African American history using a social justice and anti-bias approach.
Important Definitions
- **African American history** means the history of African Americans from the African diaspora (the movement of African people across the world) through today, including slavery, abolition (ending slavery), reconstruction (the period after the Civil War), civil rights movements, and the contributions and innovations of African Americans to U.S. society
- **African American history education program** means educational programs about African American life, art, history, and culture that may use digital or interactive technologies and work with schools
- **Director** means the Director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture
- **Local educational agency** has the same meaning as in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 765
To authorize the Director of the National Museum of African American
History and Culture to support African American history education pro-
grams, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 2, 2023
Mr. BOWMAN (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. AUCHINCLOSS, Ms. BARRAGA´N,
Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BROWN, Ms.
BUSH, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr.
CASAR, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCOR-
MICK, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CLYBURN,
Mr. COHEN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms.
DELBENE, Mr. DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms.
ESCOBAR, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mrs. FLETCHER, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Flor-
ida, Mr. FROST, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr.
EVANS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr.
HIMES, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. JACOBS, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. JOHNSON of
Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. KEATING, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr.
KHANNA, Mr. LANDSMAN, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. LARSON of
Connecticut, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Ms.
LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. LIEU, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. MANNING, Mrs.
MCBATH, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. MENG, Mr.
MFUME, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Mr.
MOULTON, Mr. NADLER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR,
Mr. PANETTA, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PETERS, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Ms.
PRESSLEY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. ROSS, Ms.
SCANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia,
Ms. SEWELL, Mr. SOTO, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSON
of Mississippi, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. TONKO, Mr.
TORRES of New York, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. VARGAS, Mr.
VEASEY, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mrs. WATSON
COLEMAN, Ms. WILD, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. WILSON of Florida,
and Ms. STEVENS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on House Administration
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•HR 765 IH
A BILL
To authorize the Director of the National Museum of African
American History and Culture to support African Amer-
ican history education programs, 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 American His-
4
tory Act’’.
5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
6
In this Act:
7
(1) AFRICAN
AMERICAN
HISTORY.—The term
8
‘‘African American history’’ means the history of Af-
9
rican Americans, including the history of African
10
peoples beginning in the African diaspora through
11
the present day, that illuminates the passage to the
12
Americas, slavery, abolition, reconstruction, and the
13
civil rights movements. This history also includes a
14
focus on the innovations and contributions of Afri-
15
can Americans to society both past and present, and
16
the impact of African Americans on the history and
17
development of the United States.
18
(2) AFRICAN
AMERICAN
HISTORY
EDUCATION
19
PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘African American history
20
education program’’ means an educational program
21
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•HR 765 IH
relating to African American life, art, history, and
1
culture, including programs—
2
(A) using digital, electronic, and inter-
3
active technologies; and
4
(B) carried out in collaboration with ele-
5
mentary schools, secondary schools, and post-
6
secondary schools.
7
(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means
8
the Director of the National Museum of African
9
American History and Culture.
10
(4) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘early childhood
11
education program’’, ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local
12
educational agency’’, and ‘‘secondary school’’ have
13
the meaning given such terms in section 8101 of the
14
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
15
(20 U.S.C. 7801).
16
SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
17
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, in accordance with
18
any program of the National Museum of African American
19
History and Culture established before, on, or after the
20
date of the enactment of this Act, may use the funds ap-
21
propriated under section 5 to carry out any of the fol-
22
lowing activities at the discretion of the Director:
23
(1) Developing and making available accurate,
24
relevant, and accessible resources to promote the un-
25
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•HR 765 IH
derstanding of African American history, which may
1
include digital resources and other types of re-
2
sources, such as print resources and traveling exhibi-
3
tions.
4
(2) Through a social justice and anti-bias lens,
5
convening experts, providing opportunities for dis-
6
course, and engaging with the public through pro-
7
gramming, educational resources, and social media.
8
(3) Through a social justice and anti-bias lens,
9
increasing resource capacity, technical support, and
10
content creation to engage various audiences in per-
11
son and via online platforms.
12
(4) Creating, expanding, and disseminating
13
scholarly work through research, curricula, in-house
14
and traveling exhibitions, publications, and program-
15
ming.
16
(5) Providing language translation of the work
17
of the National Museum of African American His-
18
tory and Culture, including scholarly work, research,
19
traveling exhibitions, publications, programming,
20
pamphlets, and other information distributed about
21
activities funded under this Act.
22
(6) Expanding the collection acquisition and
23
collection access processes, including staffing, con-
24
servation, processing, and digitization.
25
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•HR 765 IH
(7) Augmenting one or more of the following
1
African American history education program activi-
2
ties:
3
(A) Development, dissemination, and im-
4
plementation of principles of sound pedagogy
5
for teaching about African American history.
6
(B) Provision of professional development,
7
such as, but not limited to, through—
8
(i) local, regional, and national work-
9
shops;
10
(ii) teacher trainings or engagement
11
in conjunction with African American his-
12
tory education centers and other appro-
13
priate partners;
14
(iii) engagement with—
15
(I) local educational agencies;
16
and
17
(II) early childhood education
18
programs, elementary schools, and
19
secondary schools that are inde-
20
pendent of any local educational agen-
21
cy; and
22
(iv) operation and expansion of a
23
teacher fellowship program to cultivate and
24
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•HR 765 IH
support leaders in African American his-
1
tory education.
2
(C) Engagement with State and local edu-
3
cation leaders to encourage the adoption of re-
4
sources supported under this Act into curricula
5
across diverse disciplines.
6
(8) Creating, developing, implementing, repli-
7
cating, or taking to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-
8
based, field-initiated innovations for museum im-
9
provement, and evaluating rigorously such innova-
10
tions.
11
(b) ONLINE AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY EDU-
12
CATION RESOURCES.—
13
(1) WEBSITE.—The Director may use the funds
14
appropriated under section 5 to develop and main-
15
tain on the website of the National Museum of Afri-
16
can American History and Culture content des-
17
ignated for educators, students, and families to im-
18
prove their awareness and understanding of African
19
American history.
20
(2) INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION.—The Direc-
21
tor may use such funds to distribute information
22
about the activities funded under this Act through
23
the website of the National Museum of African
24
American History and Culture, and may respond to
25
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•HR 765 IH
inquiries for supplementary information concerning
1
such activities.
2
(c) CONTINUATION OF ACTIVITIES.—To the extent
3
that the National Museum of African American History
4
and Culture is engaged in an activity described in sub-
5
section (a) or (b) on the date of the enactment of this
6
Act, the Director may use the funds appropriated under
7
section 5 to continue that activity.
8
SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT AND BRIEFINGS.
9
(a) REPORT.—Not later than February 1 of each
10
year, the Director shall submit to the Congress, and make
11
available to the public, a report describing how the funds
12
made available under this Act have been used—
13
(1) to create and promote educational activities;
14
and
15
(2) otherwise to carry out this Act.
16
(b) BRIEFINGS.—Not later than 6 months after the
17
date on which funding is first distributed under this Act,
18
and annually thereafter, the Director or the Director’s
19
designee shall brief the Committee on House Administra-
20
tion of the House of Representatives and the Committee
21
on Rules and Administration of the Senate on the pro-
22
grams and activities carried out under this Act.
23
(c) SUNSET.—Subsections (a) and (b) shall cease to
24
be effective on September 30, 2028.
25
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•HR 765 IH
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
1
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out
2
this Act $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and each of the
3
4 succeeding fiscal years.
4
Æ
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