THE NATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD NETWORK TO FREEDOM ACT OF 1997
(Senate – June 11, 1997)

Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN. Mr. President, I am pleased to have the opportunity today to introduce the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act of 1997.     

The Underground Railroad, as my colleagues know, was among the most successful efforts in history in helping to undermine and destroy the institution of slavery in the United States. Beginning during the colonial period, this clandestine resistance movement reached its peak in the 19^th century, helping hundreds of thousands of African-Americans flee servitude in the South and begin new lives in the North, and in Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Despite its historical significance, the Underground Railroad has not been officially recognized in any fashion. Consequently, in 1990 my distinguished former colleague, Senator Paul Simon and former Congressman Pete Kostmayer of Pennsylvania introduced legislation directing the National Park Service to explore and study options for commemorating the Underground Railroad. Congress passed that legislation later that year and the National Park Service went to work gathering information on the routes and sites used by the Underground Railroad.

That study, completed in 1996, found that the Underground Railroad story was of national significance. The study documented 380 sites, including 27 national park units, national historic landmarks, routes, privately owned buildings and churches associated with this resistance movement.  The study also found that many of these sites were in imminent danger of being lost or destroyed and that despite a tremendous amount of interest in the Underground Railroad, little organized coordination and communication existed among interested individuals and organizations. The study reached a final recommendation that the U.S. Congress should authorize and fund a national initiative to support, preserve, and commemorate the sites and routes associated with the Underground Railroad.

Mr. President, the bill I am introducing today, along with my distinguished colleague from Ohio, Senator DeWine, will enact many of the findings of that National Park Service study into law.  Our bill, the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act, will create within the National Park Service a nationwide network of historic buildings, routes, programs, projects, and museums that have certifiable thematic connections to the Underground Railroad. The bill will also allow the National Park Service to produce and disseminate educational and informational materials on the Underground Railroad, and enter into cooperative agreements with Federal agencies, State and local government, and historical societies to provide technical assistance and coordination among network participants. Participation in the network by private property owners is purely voluntary.

This bill does not create a new park unit in the traditional sense.  In order to ensure the maximum safety and secrecy of its activities, the Underground Railroad was an amorphous and loosely organized system. No single site or route, therefore, completely characterizes the Underground Railroad, making it unfeasible that these sites could have boundaries and be operated as a traditional national park. Instead, it is the intent of this bill to create a network of cooperative partnerships, identified by an official or unifying symbol or device, at a limited annual operating cost.

Mr. President, we will never know how many individuals were freed from servitude, or how many Americans, black and white, women and men, mayors, ministries, businessmen, housewives, or former slaves endangered or sacrificed their lives in the defense of the belief that no American, and no human, should be bought, traded, or sold.

That’s why I urge my colleagues to swiftly pass the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act.  This bill grants federal recognition to the Underground Railroad as a significant aspect of American history.  This bill helps to preserve the structures and artifacts of an organized resistance movement for freedom. And finally, and most important, this bill commemorates those Americans whose efforts helped destroy the ugly legacy of slavery in this country.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record as follows.  S.887

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