HOUSE RESOLUTION No. 6014
A RESOLUTION commending the passage of the United States African-American Burial
Grounds Preservation Act.
WHEREAS, On December 29, 2022, the United States African-
American Burial Grounds Preservation Act was signed into law as part of
the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023; and
WHEREAS, The program authorizes grants and technical assistance
for the identification, preservation and restoration of African-American
burial grounds; and
WHEREAS, African-American burial grounds are sacred spaces,
which are often located in unknown, unmarked, abandoned or
unmaintained locations; and
WHEREAS, African-American civil war soldiers are laid to rest at
many African-American burial grounds, where their headstones have
tragically been stolen or vandalized; and
WHEREAS, African-American burial grounds are representative of the
historic unequal treatment that African-Americans endured from life
through death; and
WHEREAS, African-American burial grounds are often discovered
before infrastructure developments, leading to halted construction projects
and severe emotional distress within local communities; and
WHEREAS, The program provides African-American burial grounds
with increased public awareness and crucial grant funding for
preservation, especially before development projects catastrophically and
irreparably damage these sacred sites; and
WHEREAS, African-American burial grounds serve to honor the
Nation's ancestors; and
WHEREAS, Descendants of those buried in African-American burial
grounds deserve the right to visit these sites to their pay respects; and
WHEREAS, African-American burial grounds pass the Nation's
history from generation to generation; and
WHEREAS, Kansas is home to Old Quindaro Cemetery and other
historic African-American burial grounds.
WHEREAS, Mrs. Loretta Elsenia Norman, Mr. Michael Summers, Mr.
Anthony Hope and Mr. Luther Smith are descendants of individuals who
utilized the Underground Railroad and are buried at the Quindaro
Cemetery: Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas:
That we commend the United States African-American Burial Grounds
Preservation Program.
House Resolution No. 6014 was sponsored by Representative Marvin
Robinson
I hereby certify that the above RESOLUTION originated in the HOUSE, and
was adopted by that body


Speaker of the House.

Chief Clerk of the House.