118 STAT. 670 PUBLIC LAW 108–238—JUNE 22, 2004 Public Law 108–238 108th Congress An Act To authorize assistance for the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum and Justice Learning Center. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Great Black Americans Commemoration Act of 2004’’. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) Black Americans have served honorably in Congress, in senior executive branch positions, in the law, the judiciary, and other fields, yet their record of service is not well known by the public, is not included in school history lessons, and is not adequately presented in the Nation’s museums. (2) The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc. in Baltimore, Maryland, a nonprofit organization, is the Nation’s first wax museum presenting the history of great Black Americans, including those who have served in Congress, in senior execu tive branch positions, in the law, the judiciary, and other fields, as well as others who have made significant contributions to benefit the Nation. (3) The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc. plans to expand its existing facilities to establish the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum and Justice Learning Center, which is intended to serve as a national museum and center for presentation of wax figures and related interactive educational exhibits por traying the history of great Black Americans. (4) The wax medium has long been recognized as a unique and artistic means to record human history through preserva tion of the faces and personages of people of prominence, and historically, wax exhibits were used to commemorate noted figures in ancient Egypt, Babylon, Greece, and Rome, in medieval Europe, and in the art of the Italian renaissance. (5) The Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc. was founded in 1983 by Drs. Elmer and Joanne Martin, 2 Baltimore edu cators who used their personal savings to purchase wax figures, which they displayed in schools, churches, shopping malls, and festivals in the mid Atlantic region. (6) The goal of the Martins was to test public reaction to the idea of a Black history wax museum and so positive was the response over time that the museum has been heralded by the public and the media as a national treasure. National Great Black Americans Commemoration Act of 2004. Maryland. June 22, 2004 [S. 1233]
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