Restoring the promise of freedom: honoring, preserving, and investing in Freedmen's Settlements.

Summary

Recognizes and documents the history, contributions, and present hardships of more than 1,200 freedmen’s settlements and historic Black towns, attributing community-building to formerly enslaved and free Black Americans and identifying causes of decline such as racial violence, discriminatory policies, and environmental harms. It highlights several named communities, notes existing preservation efforts, cites recent federal initiatives on environmental and investment equity, and calls for federal agency support, research, and preservation without creating new funding or mandates.

• Formally recognizes the historical existence and community-building contributions of over 1,200 freedmen’s settlements and historic Black towns.
• Attributes community decline to a mix of racial violence, discriminatory policy, economic exclusion, and environmental harms.
• Highlights several named communities with specific local conditions to illustrate broader patterns of harm and resilience.
• Notes limited comprehensive federal research and existing preservation efforts by states, universities, and nonprofits.
• References recent federal environmental justice and investment-equity initiatives as relevant contexts for response.
• Calls for leveraging federal agency support for documentation, preservation, research, and remediation, but does not appropriate funds or create new programs.
• Is primarily declarative: it documents harms and urges action rather than imposing mandates or authorizing spending.