[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1247 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1247
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Riders,
collectively, in recognition of their unique contribution to Civil
Rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement for equality in
interstate travel.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 28, 2023
Mr. Johnson of Georgia (for himself, Ms. Mace, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin,
Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mrs.
Torres of California, Mr. Trone, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Mr.
Cartwright, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Casten, Ms. Sewell, Mr.
Keating, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms. Norton, Mr. Costa,
Mr. Tonko, Mr. Schiff, Ms. Wild, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Adams, Mr. Boyle of
Pennsylvania, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Jacobs, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Matsui, Ms.
Ross, Mr. Gallego, Ms. Titus, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Brown,
Mrs. Watson Coleman, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Carter of
Louisiana, Mr. Cuellar, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Meng, Ms. DelBene, Mr.
Pocan, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Stevens, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Higgins of New
York, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. Bush, Ms.
Scanlon, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Ruiz, and Mr.
Moskowitz) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on
House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Riders,
collectively, in recognition of their unique contribution to Civil
Rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement for equality in
interstate travel.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) In 1960, the Supreme Court ruled in Boynton v. Virginia
that segregated bus and rail stations were unconstitutional.
(2) The rigid system of racial segregation that prevailed
in the United States during the 1960s did not permit a Black
person to sit next to a White person on any bus traveling
through interstate commerce and in most locations in the South.
Bus stations had ``Whites Only'' waiting areas and Blacks were
not permitted to wait in those areas despite the Supreme Court
making it the law of the land.
(3) The Freedom Riders, with the intent to end segregation
in public transportation throughout the South, paved the way
for full racial integration of the United States transit
system. They overcame prejudice, discrimination, and violence.
They sparked a movement that changed our Nation.
(4) The Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.) selected
thirteen volunteers for nonviolent response training to join in
the Freedom Rides from Washington, DC, to New Orleans, LA. The
Freedom Riders used their strategies of nonviolence throughout
the South to challenge the region's Jim Crow laws directly and
enforce the Supreme Court decision in Boynton.
(5) On the morning of May 4, 1961, the Freedom Riders,
comprised of seven Blacks and six Whites, boarded two buses,
with Blacks and Whites seated together. Those thirteen Freedom
Riders were: Genevieve Hughes Houghton, Charles Person, Hank
Thomas, John Lewis, Edward Blankenheim, James Farmer, Walter
Bergman, Frances Bergman, Joseph Perkins, Jimmy McDonald, Mae
Francis Moultrie, Benjamin Elton Cox, and Albert Bigelow. Most
segregated States considered even this level of integration a
crime. At various stops along the way, the Freedom Riders would
enter areas designated ``Whites'' and ``Colored'' and would eat
together at segregated lunch counters to defy local laws.
(6) Initially, the Freedom Riders had encountered only
minor clashes until a stop in South Carolina. In Rock Hill, an
angry mob severely beat John Lewis, late Congressman from the
5th District of Georgia, when he entered the bus station. Henry
``Hank'' Thomas was jailed when he entered the bus station in
Winnsboro. Authorities delivered him to a waiting mob long
after the station had closed that evening. A local Black
minister rescued Thomas, enabling him to rejoin the group in
Columbia. However, Lewis was so badly beaten he could not
continue the Freedom Rides.
(7) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights
leaders met with the group in Atlanta to dissuade their
continuance through the Deep South due to death threats.
Despite these warnings, more Freedom Riders joined in Atlanta.
Dedicated to their mission to end segregation in the South and
trained in nonviolent movements, the Freedom Riders continued
on their journey.
(8) On Mother's Day, May 14, 1961, the Freedom Riders were
on two different buses. An angry mob in Anniston, Alabama,
firebombed the first bus. When the Freedom Riders rushed out,
still choking from the thick smoke of the burning bus, the
waiting angry mob beat them with lead pipes and baseball bats
as the bus exploded. Ambulances refused to transport the Black
Freedom Riders to the hospital. The mob beat the Freedom Riders
on the second bus and forced them to sit in the back. As they
journeyed to Birmingham, another mob savagely beat the Freedom
Riders.
(9) The Nashville (TN) Student Group, a local group of
students who had been successful in desegregating the lunch
counters and movie theaters in Nashville (TN), vowed not to let
these acts of violence curtail the goal of the Freedom Rides.
They sent their members to continue the Freedom Rides and
called out to other student groups to do the same.
(10) As the violence grew, the Attorney General of the
United States called in the National Guard and the U.S.
Marshals to protect the Freedom Riders as they journeyed
through Alabama. This protection was short lived. The Federal
authorities turned the Freedom Riders over to the local
authorities in Mississippi who then arrested the Freedom Riders
for disturbing the peace.
(11) The Government of Mississippi imprisoned many of the
Freedom Riders in Parchman Prison known for its horrific
conditions, such as subjecting the Freedom Riders to strip
searches, work on chain gangs, and light shining in their cells
24 hours a day. Despite these conditions, the Freedom Riders
refused bail because they were determined to spread the message
of their nonviolent movement.
(12) Five months after the first Freedom Riders left on
their historic ride, the Interstate Commerce Commission in
conjunction with the U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy
issued a Federal order banning segregation at all interstate
public facilities based upon ``race, color or creed''. The law
became effective on November 1, 1961.
(13) In 2011, Barack Obama, the President of the United
States paid tribute to the Freedom Riders with a Presidential
proclamation honoring the 50th anniversary of the first Freedom
Ride by brave Americans whose selfless act of courage helped
pave the way for others to continue on the road to Civil Rights
in America.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(a) Presentation Authorization.--The Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make
appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of the
Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to the Freedom Riders,
collectively, in recognition of their unique contribution to Civil
Rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement to equality in
interstate travel.
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award referred to
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this Act
referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the
Secretary.
(c) Smithsonian Institution.--
(1) In general.--Following the award of the gold medal
under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the
Smithsonian Institution, where it will be available for display
as appropriate and available for research.
(2) Sense of the congress.--It is the sense of the Congress
that the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal
awarded pursuant to this Act available for display elsewhere,
particularly at appropriate locations associated with the
Freedom Riders.
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold
medal struck pursuant to section 2, at a price sufficient to cover the
cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses.
SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--Medals struck pursuant to this Act are
national medals for the purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United
States Code.
(b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.
(a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck
under this Act.
(b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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