What This Bill Does
This bill awards a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans to recognize her civil rights achievements. The bill honors her refusal to give up her bus seat on an interstate charter bus in 1952, which led to a landmark court case that made bus segregation illegal across state lines.
Who It Affects
Sarah Keys Evans receives the medal. The Secretary of the Treasury creates and distributes the medal. Congress members participate in presenting the medal.
Key Provisions
• The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate (the second-ranking Senate leader) shall arrange to present a gold medal to Mrs. Sarah Keys Evans on behalf of Congress. (Sec. 3(a))
• The Secretary of the Treasury shall create a gold medal with appropriate designs, emblems, and inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. (Sec. 3(b))
• The Secretary of the Treasury may create bronze duplicate copies of the gold medal and sell them at prices that cover the costs of materials, labor, and production. (Sec. 4)
• All medals created under this act are considered national medals and numismatic items (collectible objects with value based on their age, rarity or condition). (Sec. 5)
What Changes
A gold medal is created and presented to Sarah Keys Evans by Congress to honor her civil rights actions in 1952.
Important Definitions
Secretary refers to the Secretary of the Treasury.
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1237
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 28, 2023
Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina (for himself, Ms. ROSS, Mr. NICKEL, Mr. JOHN-
SON of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. CARSON, Ms. NORTON, and
Ms. TLAIB) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sarah Keys Evans
4
Congressional Gold Medal Act’’.
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
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Congress finds the following:
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•HR 1237 IH
(1) Sarah Keys Evans was born on April 18,
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1929, in Washington, North Carolina, in a town
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called Keysville, the second oldest of seven children.
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(2) Sarah Keys, an Army veteran and civil
4
rights pioneer, is a living example that change is
5
possible if we are willing to stand up and fight for
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what is right.
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(3) Before the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks and
8
the Montgomery bus boycott that followed, there was
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Sarah Keys Evans. Her refusal to give up her seat
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on an interstate charter bus prompted the landmark
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court case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company,
12
in which the Interstate Commerce Commission
13
(ICC) outlawed the segregation of Black passengers
14
in buses traveling across State lines.
15
(4) On August 1, 1952, Women’s Army Corps,
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Private First Class Sarah Keys, boarded a bus in
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Trenton, New Jersey, for her first home visit to
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Washington, North Carolina, since joining the mili-
19
tary. The bus she boarded would take her directly to
20
her North Carolina destination without any required
21
bus changes.
22
(5) Once the bus reached Roanoke Rapids,
23
North Carolina, a new driver took over the bus and
24
as was custom, went through the bus and rechecked
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•HR 1237 IH
tickets. When he came to Ms. Keys, he told her to
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give up her seat to a White Marine who boarded the
2
bus in Roanoke Rapids and move to the back of the
3
bus. Tired from her long journey and understanding
4
her rights, Sarah refused.
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(6) Six years prior, in 1946, there was a Su-
6
preme Court decision (Morgan v. Virginia) that said
7
it was illegal to practice passenger segregation on
8
interstate buses, but local jurisdictions found ways
9
to circumvent Federal laws.
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(7) Frustrated with her persistence, the bus
11
driver announced that all passengers would be mov-
12
ing to a different bus, but ‘‘that woman’’ who re-
13
fused to change her seat, referring to Ms. Keys,
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would not be allowed to board the new bus and
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would not be allowed to continue the trip.
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(8) Shortly thereafter, two police officers ar-
17
rived at the bus terminal, took Sarah by the arms
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into a patrol car and drove her to the Roanoke Rap-
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ids police station. Because she refused to be sub-
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jected to unjust discrimination and prejudice, she
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was forced to stay in jail overnight and was fined
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$25.00 before her release.
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•HR 1237 IH
(9) Once Sarah arrived home and informed her
1
family of the injustice she endured, her father en-
2
couraged her to seek legal action.
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(10) The National Association for the Advance-
4
ment of Colored People (NAACP) referred the fam-
5
ily to attorney Dovey Johnson Roundtree, a Captain
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in the Women’s Army Corps, who brought her case
7
before the ICC. The ICC meeting in the District of
8
Columbia took place on May 12, 1954. It was de-
9
cided by only one member of the ICC.
10
(11) New York Congressman Adam Clayton
11
Powell, Jr., agreed it was not fair that the other 10
12
members of the ICC were not involved in the deci-
13
sion. Congressman Powell helped persuade the ICC
14
to reconsider its decision.
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(12) After the Supreme Court decision on
16
Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954, and
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with the support of Department of Justice Attorney
18
General Herbert Brownell, the ICC reached a new
19
decision. A majority of the ICC members had de-
20
cided that it was wrong for people on State-to-State
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trips to be forced to sit in certain seats on a bus be-
22
cause of the color of their skin and that it was
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against the law.
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•HR 1237 IH
(13) The ICC decision on November 25, 1955,
1
went further than the Supreme Court’s ruling in
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1946 which had outlawed only unfair laws that a
3
State might make, not rules that a bus company
4
might make.
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(14) In Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Com-
6
pany, the ICC ruled in favor of Keys Evans. In their
7
decision, the Commission found the Interstate Com-
8
merce Act forbids segregation as the practice sub-
9
jects passengers to ‘‘unjust discrimination, and
10
undue and unreasonable prejudice and disadvantage,
11
in violation of section 216(d) of the Interstate Com-
12
merce Act and is therefore unlawful’’.
13
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
14
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of
15
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
16
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements
17
for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold
18
medal of appropriate design to Mrs. Sarah Keys Evans,
19
in recognition of her achievements.
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(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the
21
presentation under subsection (a), the Secretary of the
22
Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall
23
strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and
24
inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
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•HR 1237 IH
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
1
(a) STRIKING OF DUPLICATES.—Under such regula-
2
tions as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may
3
strike duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under
4
section 3.
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(b) SELLING OF DUPLICATES.—The Secretary may
6
sell such duplicates under subsection (a) at a price suffi-
7
cient to cover the costs of such duplicates, including labor,
8
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
9
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
10
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck under this
11
Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title
12
31, United States Code.
13
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section
14
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck
15
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items.
16
Æ
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