Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act of 2006

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to introduce H.R. 5216, the Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act. This important legislation will build upon the success of the Freedmen's Bureau Records Preservation Act of 2000 (P.L. Number: 106-444), which passed both the House and the Senate unanimously in 2000 and was signed into law in November 2000. The law required the Archivist of the United States to create a searchable indexing system to catalogue the geological records from the post-Civil War Reconstruction period.

Based on the immense success of the Freedmen's Bureau Records Preservation Act, I have joined with my colleagues to introduce follow- up legislation to ensure that those Americans who want to trace their family's history in our country are not prevented from doing so because access to records is difficult. Mr. Speaker, as you are aware, for most Americans, researching their genealogical history involves searching through municipal birth, death, and marriage records--almost all of which have been properly archived as public historical documents. However, African Americans in the United States face a unique challenge when conducting genealogical research due to our Nation's history of slavery and discrimination. Instead of looking up wills, land deeds, birth and death certificates, and other traditional genealogical research documents, African-Americans must often try to identify the name of former slave owners, hoping that the owners kept records of pertinent information, such as births and deaths.

To compound this difficulty, African-American genealogists find that most current records of servitude, emancipation, and post-Civil War reconstruction are frequently inaccessible, poorly catalogued, and inadequately preserved from decay. While some States and localities have undertaken efforts to collect these documents with varying degrees of success, there has not been any national effort to preserve these pieces of public and personal history to make them readily and easily accessible to all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, the Freedmen's Bureau Records Preservation Act was an important first step towards ensuring that many of these valuable and important records are appropriately maintained. Without this Act, we run the risk today of losing other critically important historic documents.

The Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post- Civil War Reconstruction Act, tackles this problem in two ways. First, it would ensure that existing records of servitude, emancipation, and post-Civil War reconstruction housed within the federal government that include the Southern Claims Commission Records, Records of the Freedmen's Bank, Slave Impressments Records, Slave Payroll Records, and Slave Manifests would be properly preserved by authorizing $5 million for the Archivist of the United States to preserve, maintain and electronically catalog. Second, this legislation would also authorize $5 million in grants to be distributed to States, academic institutions, and genealogical associations to preserve and establish databases of the important local records of servitude, emancipation, and post-Civil War reconstruction currently housed throughout the country. These grants will ensure that families doing research in my home State of California or anywhere in the country will have access to these treasure troves of genealogical information.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to be joined by over forty of our colleagues from both sides of the aisle who are original cosponsors of my legislation and particularly appreciate the support of my good friends and colleagues, Tom Davis, and Elijah Cummings, whose assistance in drafting this bill has been monumental. I would urge the rest of our colleagues to support this legislation and hope that we will be voting on this bill soon.

I would also like to call attention to the following websites, which will provide genealogical researchers, as well as people interested in the history of African-Americans, a true bounty of useful and meaningful information.

National Archives Genealogy Website (http:// www.archives.gov/genealogy/)

National Park Service African American Documentary Resources *

African American Civil War Memorial, DC (http:// www.nps.gov/afam/index.htm)

Booker T Washington National Monument, VA (http:// www.nps.gov/bowa/index.htm)

Boston African American National Historic Site, MA (http:// www.nps.gov/boaf/index.htm)

Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site, KS

(http://www.nps.gov/brvb/index.htm)

Cane River Creole National Historical Park, LA (http:// www.nps.gov/cari/index.htm)

Central High School National Historic Site, AR (http:// www.nps.gov/chsc/index.htm)

Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park (Paul

Laurence Dunbar State Memorial), OH (http://www.nps.gov/daav/ index.htm)

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, DC (http:// www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm)

George Washington Carver National Monument, MO (http:// www.nps.gov/gwca/index.htm)

Maggie L Walker National Historic Site, VA (http:// www.nps.gov/malw//index.htm)

Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site, GA (http:// www.nps.gov/malu/index.htm)

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site,

DC (http://www.nps.gov/mamc/index.htm)

Natchez National Historical Park, MS (http://www.nps.gov/ natc/index.htm)

New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, LA (http:// www.nps.gov/jazz/index.htm)

Nicodemus National Historic Site, KS (http://www.nps.gov/ nico/index.htm)

Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, AL (http:// www.nps.gov/semo/index.htm)

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, AL (http:// www.nps.gov/tuai/index.htm)

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site, AL (http:// www.nps.gov/tuin/index.htm)

* Parks have primary source documents, museum artifacts,

historic structures, landscapes and related resources. Both

primary and secondary sources at these sites contain lists of

persons, families, institutions and organizations significant

in African American

history. They are a gold mine of research for African

American families.

Databases in African American History

1. Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System* (http:// www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss/) United States Colored Troops,

African American Sailors in the Union Navy

* This database has the names of the nearly 180,000 African

American soldiers in the Union Army, USCT. It also has the

names and places of origin (throughout the world) of African

American sailors in the Union Navy.

2. National Register Information System (National Register

of Historic Places) (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/*)

* The National Register of Historic Places has a listing of

over 1000 places that are significant in African American

history, in communities all over the United States. An

outdated publication describes some 800 of these, but the

database itself, with some enhancements, would provide

significant information on local communities and families.

Studies in African American History

African-American History of War of 1812 Sites (pdf) (http:/

/crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/20-2/20-2-12.pdf)

A History Remembered: Why Were Buffalo Soldiers in

Yosemite? (http://www.nps.gov/yose/nature/articles/buffs.htm)

African American Archeology & History (http:// www.cr.nps.gov/seac/af-am/index4.htm)

African American Heritage in the Golden Crescent (http:// www.cr.nps.gov/goldcres/cultural/africahome.html)

African American History and Culture (http:// crm.cr.nps.gov/issue.cfm?volume=20& number=02)

African American Sailors in the Civil War Union Navy

(http://www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss/sailors_index.html)

Africans and African Americans on Jamestown Island 1619-

1803 (pdf) (http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/ african/african.pdf)

Chattel Slavery at Hampton/Northampton, Baltimore County

(http://www.nps.gov/hamp/lancaster2.htm)

Clues to African American Life at Manassas National

Battlefield Park (http://www.nps.gov/mrc/exhibit/arch00.htm)

Connections: African-American History and CRM (http:// crm.cr.nps.gov/issue.cfm?volume=19 & number=02)

Encountering the Cultural Diversity of the Lower

Mississippi Delta Region (http://www.cr.nps.gov/delta/ concept05.htm)

Frankly, Scarlett, We Do Give a Damn: The Making of a New

National Park (pdf) (http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/categrs/ gates.pdf)

Fugitive Slave Traffic and the Maritime World of New

Bedford (pdf) (http://www.nps.gov/nebe/research/grover.pdf)

In Those Days: African American Life Near the Savannah

River (http://www.cr.nps.gov/seac/ITD/longversion/itd- lg1.htm)

Racial Desegregation in Public Education in the U.S.

(http://www.cr.nps.gov/nhl/themes/Scanned%20Nominations/ Desegregation/deseg-education.htm)

Slavery and Resistance (http://crm.cr.nps.gov/ issue.cfm?volume=21 & number=04)

Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King (http://www.nps.gov/ malu/documents/resources.htm)

The Black Experience in Natchez 1720-1880: Special History

Study (1993) (http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/ natc/davis.pdf)

Oral Histories in the African American Community

Oral Histories Capturing Forgotten Moments in Civil Rights

History (http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/19-2/19-2-5.pdf)

Faces of Whaling Oral History Project (http://www.nps.gov/ nebe/research/faces.pdf)

Lesson Plans in African American History *

Teaching with historic places

An American Success Story: The Pope House of Raleigh, NC

(http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/124popehouse/)

Meet Dr. Manassa T. Pope, an African-American doctor and

entrepreneur in the early 20th century, and learn about his

efforts to gain civil rights well before the modern Civil

Rights Movement.

Brown v. Board: Five Communities that Changed America

(http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/121brown/ index.htm) Learn about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case

that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Chicago's Black Metropolis: Understanding History through a

Historic Place (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/ 53black/53black.htm) Examine the history of this ``city-

within-a-city,'' a self-supporting African-American community

that prospered from the late 19th century until the 1930s.

From Canterbury to Little Rock: The Struggle for

Educational Equality for African Americans (http:// www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/crandall/crandall.htm)

Understand the magnitude of the struggle involved in securing

equal educational opportunities for African Americans and

examine how Prudence Crandall challenged the prevailing

attitude toward educating African Americans in New England

prior to the Civil War.

Glen Echo Park: Center for Education and Recreation (http:/

/www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/24glenecho/ 24glenecho.htm) Trace the evolution of this Maryland site

from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to a racially

segregated amusement park, to a national park.

Iron Hill School: An African-American One Room School

(http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/58iron/ 58iron.htm) Discover how an early 20th-century philanthropist

reformed Delaware's education system for African-American

children.

The Liberty Bell: From Obscurity to Icon (http:// www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/36liberty/ 36liberty.htm) Analyze the influences that shaped the

symbolic meaning of the bell, including why some civil rights

protestors chose the Liberty Bell as their symbol for African

American equality.

Memories of Montpelier: Home of James and Dolley Madison

(http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/46montpelier/ 46montpelier.htm) Visit the Madisons' plantation home and

their world of social prominence, and explore some

contemporary views of slavery.

New Kent School and the George W. Watkins School: From

Freedom of Choice to Integration (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/ twhp/wwwlps/lessons/104newkent/104newkent.htm) Learn about

the U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the integration of

public schools and meet the individuals who experienced

segregation, fought to dismantle the institution, and

integrated the public school system of New Kent County,

Virginia.

The Old Courthouse in St. Louis: Yesterday and Today

(http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/9stlouis/ 9stlouis.htm) Compare two images of St. Louis's handsome

Courthouse--as a gathering place for pioneers heading west

and as a dramatic focus for Dred Scott's heroic efforts to

free his family from slavery.

The Siege of Port Hudson: ``Forty Days and Nights in the

Wilderness of Death'' (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/ lessons/71hudson/71hudson.htm) Understand the importance of

the Mississippi River to both the North and South during the

Civil War, as well as the critical role African American

soldiers played in the Civil War and how their fighting

changed general public perception of their abilities.

Two American Entrepreneurs: Madam C.J. Walker and J.C.

Penney (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/walker/ walker.htm) Examine the historic places associated with two

of America's most famous 20th century businesspeople.

The Vieux Carre: A Creole Neighborhood in New Orleans

(http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/20vieux/ 20vieux.htm) Examine New Orleans's distinctive French

Quarter, a vibrant reflection of its Creole heritage, and

recall the city's role in American westward expansion.

When Rice Was King (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/ lessons/3rice/3rice.htm) Investigate early rice plantations

in Georgetown, South Carolina, to learn how rice cultivation

transformed the native environment and promoted the South's

dependence on a plantation economy. Recent revision to this

lesson includes the examination of the origins of rice

production and the cultural genesis of students' communities.

* Teaching with Historic Places is a program of the

National Register of Historic Places. Individual Parks also

have lesson plans in African American history.

Travel Itineraries to African American Places

We Shall Overcome: Historic Places of the Civil Rights

Movement (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/)

Aboard the Underground Railroad (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/ travel/underground/)

Amistad: Seeking Freedom in Connecticut (http:// www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/amistad/)

Asheville, North Carolina (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/ asheville/)

Atlanta, Georgia (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/atlanta/)

Aviation: From Sand Dunes to Sonic Booms (http:// www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/aviation/)

Baltimore, MD (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/baltimore/)

Historic Charleston's Religious and Community Buildings

(http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/)

James River Plantations (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/ jamesriver/)

Lexington, Kentucky (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/ lexington/)

Southeastern Louisiana (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/ louisiana/)

Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (http:// www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/prvi/)

Raleigh, North Carolina (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/ raleigh/)

Virginia Main Street Communities (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/ travel/VAmainstreet/)

World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area (http:// www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wwIIbayarea/)

Washington, DC (http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/)

Mr. Speaker, I rise to offer my full support of legislation that Congressman Tom Lantos, Congressman Tom Davis, and I have crafted entitled the Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act (H.R. 5216). This legislation would preserve and make more accessible important pieces of personal and American history.

By and large, Americans of non-African descent who research their genealogical history search through municipal birth, death, and marriage records. To the benefit of all Americans many of these records have been properly archived as public historical documents. However, African-Americans in the United States confront a unique challenge when conducting genealogical research due to the vestiges of slavery and discrimination.

Accordingly, African-Americans were denied many of the benefits of citizenship that generate traceable documentation such as voter registration, property ownership, business ownership, and school attendance. As a result, traditional genealogical research documents can at times be of limited value to African-Americans. Fortunately, slavery, emancipation, and post-Civil War reconstruction records have proven themselves to offer a wealth of useful genealogical information that African-Americans can utilize to better understand their history. Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive national effort to preserve these important pieces of history or to make them easily accessible to all Americans. In the absence of congressional action, these records will remain inaccessible, poorly catalogued, and subject to the deteriorating affects of decay.

The Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post- Civil War Reconstruction Act would address this troubling situation. Specifically, our bill would require the establishment of an electronically searchable national database in the National Archives to preserve records of servitude, emancipation, and post-Civil War reconstruction. It would

also provide grants to State and local entities to establish similar local databases. The records that would be preserved and made more accessible include the Southern Claims Commission Records, Records of the Freedmen's Bureau, Slave Impressments Records, Slave Payroll Records, and Slave Manifests. This legislation would also authorize a total of $10 million to establish this national database and provide grants to states, academic institutions, and genealogical associations.

Recognizing that we can ill afford to allow these irreplaceable stories to be lost to the withering decay of time, our bill takes meaningful steps to resurrect the rich history of African-Americans. Not only will it allow a means by which African-Americans can trace their lineage, but also as a means by which we can preserve historically comprehensive and accurate information about our collective history as a nation.

As Author Maya Angelou once said, ``No man can know where he is going unless he knows exactly where he has been and exactly how he arrived at his present place.'' On behalf of all Americans, join us in forging that essential nexus between the past and the present by cosponsoring this bi-partisan legislation.