---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- AFRICAN HERITAGE HISTORY EDUCATION (Requires implementation of education courses in African American history in elementary and secondary schools in Rhode Island commencing in the 2022-2023 school year.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- AFRICAN HERITAGE HISTORY EDUCATION (Requires implementation of education courses in African American history in elementary and secondary schools in Rhode Island commencing in the 2022-2023 school year.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 458"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 458 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cultural", "Education", "Minors", "Teachers"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Acosta", "Anderson", "Bell", "Calkin", "DiMario", "Kallman", "Lawson", "Mack", "Quezada", "Valverde"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-03-04"
last_action: "2021-07-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/645235fa-7b31-4ac3-a40d-1079a7410ec4"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "a0a71211c88ad1dbb785d30c7c80ae26f765b8835b9e9487ad2af35fbbe53c0b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ri"]
---

# Rhode Island SB 458 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- AFRICAN HERITAGE HISTORY EDUCATION (Requires implementation of education courses in African American history in elementary and secondary schools in Rhode Island commencing in the 2022-2023 school year.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **458 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0458A.pdf)

## Votes

- EDUCATION — **37–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Acosta — primary (person)
- Anderson — primary (person)
- Bell — primary (person)
- Calkin — primary (person)
- DiMario — primary (person)
- Kallman — primary (person)
- Lawson — primary (person)
- Mack — primary (person)
- Quezada — primary (person)
- Valverde — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-03-04** 03/04/2021 Introduced, referred to Senate Education `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-09** 04/09/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/14/2021)
- **2021-04-14** 04/14/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Scheduled for consideration
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Meeting postponed (06/30/2021)
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/28/2021)
- **2021-06-27** 06/27/2021 Proposed Substitute
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/30/2021)
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (07/01/2021)
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-07-07** 07/07/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-09** 07/09/2021 Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/645235fa-7b31-4ac3-a40d-1079a7410ec4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).