PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Congressional Research Service
Version 55 · Passed Senate · Dec 20, 2020
African American Burial Grounds Study Act
This bill directs the National Park Service (NPS) to conduct a study of ways to identify, interpret, preserve, and record unmarked, previously abandoned, underserved, or other burial grounds relating to the historic African American experience. In conducting the study, the NPS shall consider
ways to engage with descendant, local, and other communities historically associated with identified burial grounds by geography, genealogy, or culture;
appropriate processes to identify locations of unmarked and unrecorded African American burial grounds with appropriate consideration for the privacy and safety of the burial grounds;
alternatives for providing in a public database the locations of, and information on, recorded and unrecorded African American burial grounds;
alternatives for commemorating and interpreting African American burial grounds; and
best practices for preserving burial ground landscapes and caring for artifacts.
People & committees
Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH] · D–OH
Legislative record
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Held at the desk.
Received in the House.
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Passed Senate with an amendment and an amendment to the Title by Voice Vote. (text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR S7859)
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment and an amendment to the Title by Voice Vote.(text of amendment in the nature of a substitute: CR S7859)
Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent. (consideration: CR S7859)
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources discharged by Unanimous Consent.
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 116-367.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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