Senator Brown’s Bipartisan Bill to Create National Network
of Sites Central to Civil Rights Movement Headed to
President’s Desk
Special to The Truth
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown´s
(D-OH) bipartisan bill to create a national network of
historic sites, stories, research facilities and educational
programs connected to the African American Civil Rights
Movement. The bill now heads to President Trump´s desk to be
signed into law.
Brown introduced the bill last year with Sen. Lamar
Alexander (R-TN), and U.S. Reps. Lacy Clay (D-MO-1) and
Jason Smith (R-MO-8). The African American Civil Rights
Network Act will also establish a National Park Service
(NPS) program to educate the public, and provide technical
assistance for documenting, preserving and interpreting the
history of the Civil Rights Movement.
"By working with our National Park Service to honor the key
sites and moments of the Civil Rights Movement, we can help
preserve the legacy and struggle of those who risked their
lives to demand full and equal participation in our
democracy," said Brown. "It´s important to learn from their
stories, and this Network is one small way we can help
educate the next generation."
The bill is supported by the National Trust for Historic
Preservation.
"We applaud Sens. Brown and Alexander on passage of the
African-American Civil Rights Network Act," said Thomas J.
Cassidy, vice president, Government Relations and Policy,
National Trust for Historic Preservation. "By linking the
historic sites, routes, corridors, and regions that defined
the struggle for African-American equality, this bill will
deepen our understanding of the relationships between the
people and places of the modern Civil Rights movement, and
help us to better appreciate its context and complexity.
Creating programming that ties together sites, activities,
and research on civil rights will produce a richer and more
complete picture of a critical time in our nation´s
history."
The African American Civil Rights Network would initially
look to include
historic sites identified by the NPS´ Civil Rights
Initiative
like Mason Temple in Memphis, TN, where Martin Luther King,
Jr. delivered his "Mountaintop" speech the day before his
assassination. There is also the opportunity for additional
sites to be added like Miami University´s Western Campus in
Oxford, OH, where students trained to register
African-American voters in Mississippi during Freedom
Summer.
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