Legislation aimed at preserving the Gullah and Geechee cultures from North Carolina to Florida was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday.

The Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Act, proposed by Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., would hand out up to $1 million a year for 10 years for projects that enhance and protect the unique Gullah and Geechee cultures, which developed from the introduction of West African slaves to the Sea Islands more than 400 years ago.

The bill protecting the mixture of African, European and American Indian cultures now heads to the Senate, where Clyburn predicts strong support.

"It passed the last time, and I think it will pass this time," said Clyburn, who is working with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham on the Senate version. "The question is what form it will come back in."

Clyburn sponsored the bill last year after he secured funding for a three-year study by the National Park Service that found the Gullah and Geechee cultures were endangered. But the House went into recess in December before the bill could be passed with Senate amendments.

Clyburn reintroduced the bill in February, doubling the funding request and including North Carolina and Florida as areas to be included in the heritage corridor. In the end, a House committee sent the bill to the floor with $1 million a year, not Clyburn's requested $2 million.

"I expected that. I just thought I'd give it a try," Clyburn said, reasoning that a larger area needed more money.

The act would create a nine-member commission under the National Park Service to oversee development of five interpretative centers, one that could be placed at Penn Center on St. Helena Island.

Bernie Wright, executive director of the Penn Center, said if the bill were signed into law, the center's capacity for visitors could be increased and more people could have the "knowledge about what formulates Gullah and Geechee (culture) and what that means to America."