What This Bill Does
This bill awards a Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Riders as a group to honor their work fighting racial segregation in interstate bus travel. The medal recognizes how their nonviolent protests inspired a movement for equality in public transportation across the United States.
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Who It Affects
The Freedom Riders (as a collective group, not individuals) receive the honor. The Smithsonian Institution will receive and display the medal. The Secretary of the Treasury will create the medal. Americans generally benefit from honoring this civil rights achievement.
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Key Provisions
- The Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate will arrange to present a gold medal to the Freedom Riders collectively in recognition of their civil rights contribution (Sec. 2(a)).
- The Secretary of the Treasury will design and create the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary (Sec. 2(b)).
- After the award, the Smithsonian Institution will receive the gold medal for display and research purposes (Sec. 2(c)(1)).
- The Secretary may create and sell bronze copies of the gold medal at a price covering all production costs, and money from those sales goes back to the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund (Sec. 3 and Sec. 5(b)).
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What Changes
If this law passes, the Freedom Riders will receive official Congressional recognition through a gold medal. The Smithsonian Institution will gain a new historical artifact for the American people to see and study. Bronze copies may be created and sold to the public.
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Important Definitions
None defined in the bill text.
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I
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 Mis-
sissippi, 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 Lou-
isiana, Mr. CUELLAR, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Ms. MENG, Ms. DELBENE,
Mr. POCAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. HIG-
GINS of New York, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. WILLIAMS of Geor-
gia, 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 de-
termined 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 Rid-
ers, collectively, in recognition of their unique contribu-
tion to Civil Rights, which inspired a revolutionary move-
ment for equality in interstate travel.
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•HR 1247 IH
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
3
The Congress finds the following:
4
(1) In 1960, the Supreme Court ruled in Boyn-
5
ton v. Virginia that segregated bus and rail stations
6
were unconstitutional.
7
(2) The rigid system of racial segregation that
8
prevailed in the United States during the 1960s did
9
not permit a Black person to sit next to a White
10
person on any bus traveling through interstate com-
11
merce and in most locations in the South. Bus sta-
12
tions had ‘‘Whites Only’’ waiting areas and Blacks
13
were not permitted to wait in those areas despite the
14
Supreme Court making it the law of the land.
15
(3) The Freedom Riders, with the intent to end
16
segregation in public transportation throughout the
17
South, paved the way for full racial integration of
18
the United States transit system. They overcame
19
prejudice, discrimination, and violence. They sparked
20
a movement that changed our Nation.
21
(4) The Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.)
22
selected thirteen volunteers for nonviolent response
23
training to join in the Freedom Rides from Wash-
24
ington, DC, to New Orleans, LA. The Freedom Rid-
25
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•HR 1247 IH
ers used their strategies of nonviolence throughout
1
the South to challenge the region’s Jim Crow laws
2
directly and enforce the Supreme Court decision in
3
Boynton.
4
(5) On the morning of May 4, 1961, the Free-
5
dom Riders, comprised of seven Blacks and six
6
Whites, boarded two buses, with Blacks and Whites
7
seated together. Those thirteen Freedom Riders
8
were: Genevieve Hughes Houghton, Charles Person,
9
Hank Thomas, John Lewis, Edward Blankenheim,
10
James Farmer, Walter Bergman, Frances Bergman,
11
Joseph Perkins, Jimmy McDonald, Mae Francis
12
Moultrie, Benjamin Elton Cox, and Albert Bigelow.
13
Most segregated States considered even this level of
14
integration a crime. At various stops along the way,
15
the Freedom Riders would enter areas designated
16
‘‘Whites’’ and ‘‘Colored’’ and would eat together at
17
segregated lunch counters to defy local laws.
18
(6) Initially, the Freedom Riders had encoun-
19
tered only minor clashes until a stop in South Caro-
20
lina. In Rock Hill, an angry mob severely beat John
21
Lewis, late Congressman from the 5th District of
22
Georgia, when he entered the bus station. Henry
23
‘‘Hank’’ Thomas was jailed when he entered the bus
24
station in Winnsboro. Authorities delivered him to a
25
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•HR 1247 IH
waiting mob long after the station had closed that
1
evening. A local Black minister rescued Thomas, en-
2
abling him to rejoin the group in Columbia. How-
3
ever, Lewis was so badly beaten he could not con-
4
tinue the Freedom Rides.
5
(7) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil
6
rights leaders met with the group in Atlanta to dis-
7
suade their continuance through the Deep South due
8
to death threats. Despite these warnings, more Free-
9
dom Riders joined in Atlanta. Dedicated to their
10
mission to end segregation in the South and trained
11
in nonviolent movements, the Freedom Riders con-
12
tinued on their journey.
13
(8) On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, the Free-
14
dom Riders were on two different buses. An angry
15
mob in Anniston, Alabama, firebombed the first bus.
16
When the Freedom Riders rushed out, still choking
17
from the thick smoke of the burning bus, the wait-
18
ing angry mob beat them with lead pipes and base-
19
ball bats as the bus exploded. Ambulances refused to
20
transport the Black Freedom Riders to the hospital.
21
The mob beat the Freedom Riders on the second bus
22
and forced them to sit in the back. As they jour-
23
neyed to Birmingham, another mob savagely beat
24
the Freedom Riders.
25
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•HR 1247 IH
(9) The Nashville (TN) Student Group, a local
1
group of students who had been successful in deseg-
2
regating the lunch counters and movie theaters in
3
Nashville (TN), vowed not to let these acts of vio-
4
lence curtail the goal of the Freedom Rides. They
5
sent their members to continue the Freedom Rides
6
and called out to other student groups to do the
7
same.
8
(10) As the violence grew, the Attorney General
9
of the United States called in the National Guard
10
and the U.S. Marshals to protect the Freedom Rid-
11
ers as they journeyed through Alabama. This protec-
12
tion was short lived. The Federal authorities turned
13
the Freedom Riders over to the local authorities in
14
Mississippi who then arrested the Freedom Riders
15
for disturbing the peace.
16
(11) The Government of Mississippi imprisoned
17
many of the Freedom Riders in Parchman Prison
18
known for its horrific conditions, such as subjecting
19
the Freedom Riders to strip searches, work on chain
20
gangs, and light shining in their cells 24 hours a
21
day. Despite these conditions, the Freedom Riders
22
refused bail because they were determined to spread
23
the message of their nonviolent movement.
24
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•HR 1247 IH
(12) Five months after the first Freedom Rid-
1
ers left on their historic ride, the Interstate Com-
2
merce Commission in conjunction with the U.S. At-
3
torney General Robert Kennedy issued a Federal
4
order banning segregation at all interstate public fa-
5
cilities based upon ‘‘race, color or creed’’. The law
6
became effective on November 1, 1961.
7
(13) In 2011, Barack Obama, the President of
8
the United States paid tribute to the Freedom Rid-
9
ers with a Presidential proclamation honoring the
10
50th anniversary of the first Freedom Ride by brave
11
Americans whose selfless act of courage helped pave
12
the way for others to continue on the road to Civil
13
Rights in America.
14
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
15
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZATION.—The Speaker
16
of the House of Representatives and the President pro
17
tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrange-
18
ments for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of
19
a gold medal of appropriate design to the Freedom Riders,
20
collectively, in recognition of their unique contribution to
21
Civil Rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement to
22
equality in interstate travel.
23
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the
24
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the
25
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•HR 1247 IH
Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-
1
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems,
2
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
3
retary.
4
(c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.—
5
(1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the
6
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal
7
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where
8
it will be available for display as appropriate and
9
available for research.
10
(2) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense
11
of the Congress that the Smithsonian Institution
12
should make the gold medal awarded pursuant to
13
this Act available for display elsewhere, particularly
14
at appropriate locations associated with the Freedom
15
Riders.
16
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
17
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in
18
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2, at
19
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor,
20
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
21
SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS.
22
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck pursuant to
23
this Act are national medals for the purposes of chapter
24
51 of title 31, United States Code.
25
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•HR 1247 IH
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections
1
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals
2
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic
3
items.
4
SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF
5
SALE.
6
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is
7
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint
8
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
9
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under
10
this Act.
11
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the
12
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section
13
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public
14
Enterprise Fund.
15
Æ
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