H.R. 945

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 945 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 945

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 4, 2025

Mr. Johnson of Georgia (for himself, Ms. Ansari, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. 
Beyer, Ms. Brown, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Carter of Louisiana, Mr. Carson, 
Ms. Castor of Florida, Mr. Castro of Texas, Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick, 
Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Costa, Mr. 
Crawford, Ms. Crockett, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, 
Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Doggett, Mr. Fields, Mr. Frost, Mr. Green of Texas, 
Mr. Davis of North Carolina, Ms. Norton, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Ms. 
Jacobs, Ms. Kamlager-Dove, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Mr. Khanna, Mr. 
Krishnamoorthi, Mrs. McBath, Ms. McClellan, Ms. McCollum, Mrs. McIver, 
Mr. Meeks, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Moskowitz, Mr. Neal, Ms. Ocasio-
Cortez, Ms. Pressley, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Scholten, Mr. David Scott of 
Georgia, Ms. Sewell, Ms. Stevens, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. 
Thanedar, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. 
Torres of California, Mr. Turner of Texas, Ms. Williams of Georgia, Ms. 
Wilson of Florida, Mrs. Sykes, and Mr. Vargas) 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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