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117-s-270117th CongressWALLET

Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park Expansion and Redesignation Act

Sponsored By: Senator Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]

Became Law

Summary

Expands the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site into a National Historical Park. The law broadens the site's mission to honor civil rights stories tied to school desegregation and requires the National Park Service to include affiliated areas and boundary additions.

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  • Visitors and educators get broader access to the history of five school desegregation cases through added sites, exhibits, and interpretation.
  • Names affiliated areas including the Robert Russa Moton Museum, multiple Delaware schools, and John Philip Sousa Middle School to link local places to the park.
  • Allows the Park Service to add specific parcels, including limited condemnation for park boundaries, requires updated management plans and public meetings, and authorizes cooperative agreements while keeping affiliated areas owned and run locally.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

Park expands; eminent domain inside boundaries

The park now includes two school sites in Summerton, South Carolina, and about 1 acre next to Monroe Elementary in Topeka, Kansas. The Park Service must update the park plan to add the Summerton areas and send it to Congress. Inside the park boundaries in Kansas or South Carolina, the government can acquire land, including by condemnation (eminent domain). Property owners inside those boundaries may have to sell for fair compensation.

Local civil rights sites become park partners

When the Secretary identifies a local manager, several sites become affiliated areas: the Robert Russa Moton Museum (VA), three Delaware school sites, and John Philip Sousa Middle School (DC). The Park Service can give technical and financial help for marketing, signs, interpretation, and preservation. It cannot buy land or run these sites. Each site stays owned and operated by its current owner. The Park Service must create a management plan with public meetings and online comments, and send final plans to Congress within three years after funds are available.

Park renamed; broader civil rights story

The law renames the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site as a National Historical Park. All laws and maps that said "Historic Site" now mean the Historical Park. It adds findings that Brown included four other school segregation cases and cites a 1999 study on their national importance. This guides how the Park Service tells and teaches this history.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]

DE • D

Cosponsors

  • Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC]

    SC • R

    Sponsored 2/8/2021

  • Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA]

    VA • D

    Sponsored 2/8/2021

  • Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC]

    SC • R

    Sponsored 2/8/2021

  • Sen. Carper, Thomas R. [D-DE]

    DE • D

    Sponsored 2/8/2021

  • Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]

    KS • R

    Sponsored 2/8/2021

  • Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA]

    VA • D

    Sponsored 2/8/2021

  • Sen. Marshall, Roger [R-KS]

    KS • R

    Sponsored 6/10/2021

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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