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

HRES 173 is a symbolic resolution, not a bill, calling for federal recognition and support of historically Black Freedmen's Settlements. It honors communities like Sand Branch, Texas (facing water contamination and poverty), Africatown, Alabama (surrounded by pollution), and Mossville, Louisiana (enduring industrial pollution), which were established by formerly enslaved people after emancipation. The resolution urges federal coordination to preserve these communities through documentation, historic preservation, and leveraging existing programs like EPA’s Environmental Justice initiatives and Justice40 funding - without creating new mandates or direct funding. It emphasizes collaboration between federal agencies, states, and nonprofits to address legacy inequities in infrastructure, environmental health, and economic opportunity. The resolution focuses on acknowledgment and strategic support, not new legislation or financial commitments.