H.R. 6712

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6712 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6712

To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Robert Parris 
Moses, in recognition of his achievements and contributions to 
advancing American education and civil rights.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 15, 2025

Mr. Espaillat introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Robert Parris 
Moses, in recognition of his achievements and contributions to 
advancing American education and civil rights.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Robert Parris Moses Congressional 
Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds that:
(1) Robert Parris Moses was born in Harlem, New York City, 
on January 23, 1935.
(2) Robert Parris Moses is regarded as an influential civil 
rights activist, peace activist, public education advocate, and 
math literacy educator.
(3) Moses grew up in Harlem River Houses and was one of 
only a handful of Black students at the time who was admitted 
to Stuyvesant High School.
(4) Moses earned a scholarship to Hamilton College in 
Clinton, New York, and subsequently obtained a master's degree 
in philosophy from Harvard University in 1957.
(5) His doctorate studies in mathematics were halted due to 
the death of his mother and the hospitalization of his father.
(6) In 1959, Moses helped with the second Youth March for 
Integrated Schools in Washington, DC.
(7) Moses visited Mississippi in the summer of 1960, and 
met with local National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People (NAACP) leaders who indicated the need to focus 
on voter registration. He returned to Mississippi after 
teaching the 1960-1961 school year in New York, where he 
organized and registered thousands of poor, illiterate, and 
rural Black residents to vote.
(8) As a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating 
Committee, in 1964, Moses helped organize the Mississippi 
``Freedom'' Summer Project.
(9) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called Moses' 
``contribution to the freedom struggle in America'' an 
``inspiration''.
(10) After Moses married Janet, they started a family in 
Tanzania. He spent nearly a decade there teaching mathematics 
and working with the Ministry of Education.
(11) Moses returned to the United States in 1976, and 
continued his doctoral studies in Philosophy of Mathematics at 
Harvard. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 1982, which he 
used to promote the Algebra Project.
(12) In founding the Algebra Project, Moses stated that K-
12 math literacy, like voting literacy, is key to full 
citizenship for Americans from poor and minority communities as 
our society shifts from the Industrial Age to the Information 
Age.
(13) The Algebra Project is a non-profit dedicated to 
helping students from historically marginalized communities, 
including Black, Brown, and youth living in poverty, who often 
hail from low-income households. Students develop math literacy 
skills, which Bob Moses viewed as the path to permanently 
improving their life circumstances, as well as the social and 
economic conditions of their communities.
(14) The Algebra Project uses mathematics literacy as an 
organizing tool to guarantee quality public-school education 
for all children in the United States.
(15) The Algebra Project is one of the few mathematics 
education initiatives to originate in the African-American 
community.
(16) Since its inception in 1982, the Algebra Project has 
helped more than 40,000 students in hundreds of schools 
nationwide.
(17) In 1996, the Young People's Project was launched by 
Algebra Project graduates from Cambridge, MA, and Algebra 
Project middle school students from Jackson, Mississippi. The 
Young People's Project recruits and trains high school and 
college age ``Math Literacy Workers'' to facilitate enrichment 
workshops for younger students in mathematics.
(18) For his work, Bob Moses has been honored, including 
with an Honorary Doctor of Science from Harvard University and 
Ohio State University, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from 
Princeton University, the John Dewey Prize for Progressive 
Education, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National 
Council of the Teachers of Mathematics, and was inducted to the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
(19) Moses wrote about his vision for education and 
experiences. He was co-author of Radical Equations--Civil 
Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project (2001), and co-
editor of Quality Education as a Constitutional Right--Creating 
a Grassroots Movement to Transform America's Schools (2010).
(20) Moses wrote in Radical Equations that ``the most 
urgent social issue affecting poor people and people of color, 
is economic access. In today's world, economic access and full 
citizenship depend crucially on math and science literacy. I 
believe that the absence of math literacy in urban and rural 
communities throughout this country is an issue as urgent as 
the lack of registered Black voters in Mississippi was in 
1961.''.
(21) Bob Moses passed away in Hollywood, Florida, on July 
25, 2021.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

(a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of 
the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration of 
Robert Parris Moses, in recognition of his achievements and 
contributions to American education and civil rights.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred 
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in 
this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with suitable 
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 
The design shall bear an image of, and inscription of the name of, 
Robert Parris Moses.
(c) Authorized Recipient.--Following the award of the gold medal 
under subsection (a), in honor of Moses, the gold medal shall be given 
to Maisha Moses, Robert Parris Moses' daughter.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the cost 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

(a) National Medals.--The medals struck under this Act are national 
medals for 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. 6. 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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