This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Black Heritage Museum of West Alabama Act."

For the purposes of this chapter the following terms shall have the following meanings, respectively, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(1) REPOSITORY. A place or depository on the campus of Stillman College.

(2) SOURCE MATERIALS. Any written or printed matter, memorabilia and artifacts.

(3) AFRO-AMERICAN. Any American person of African descent and who is identified with the black race.

The general purposes of this chapter are to provide for the obtaining, preserving and holding for circulation in a repository at the Stillman College source materials on Afro-American history and culture which shall be used for research and other educational and cultural purposes, and which shall thereby encourage the development of inspiration and positive self-concepts on the part of black Americans and provide a basis for whites to gain greater respect for the black race.

The Board of Directors of the Black Heritage Museum shall appoint a curator of the repository who shall be a recognized authority on Afro-American history and culture. The curator shall be empowered to seek out and secure source materials on or about Afro-Americans, to catalog and preserve such materials in keeping with the best available methods of preservation, and shall disseminate or make available to the public said materials in keeping with the designated functions of the repository.

The repository shall serve the state and West Alabama by collecting and preserving source materials on the contributions, achievements and general experiences of Afro-Americans, and shall endeavor to reproduce and secure copies of all materials on or about black Americans from the earliest beginnings to the present. It shall provide bibliographic and copy services, whenever practical, to state agencies, the university system, state officials, researchers and scholars of Afro-American history and culture, and encourage the use of Afro-American instructional materials in state educational services to all groups without regard to racial, religious, or ethnic membership.

For the purposes of this chapter, Stillman College has the authority to accept and receive funds, grants and services from the federal government or its agencies; from departments, agencies and instrumentalities of state, municipal or local government; or from private or civic sources.