To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Simeon Booker in recognition of his achievements in the field of journalism, including his reporting during the Civil Rights movement and his social and political commentary.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1355 To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Simeon Booker in recognition of his achievements in the field of journalism, including his reporting during the Civil Rights movement and his social and polit- ical commentary. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 25, 2019 Mr. RYAN (for himself, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. PASCRELL, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. MOORE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. COHEN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, and Mr. RUSH) 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 posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Simeon Booker in recognition of his achievements in the field of journalism, including his reporting during the Civil Rights movement and his social and political commentary. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1355.IH H1355 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1355 IH SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) Simeon Saunders Booker, Jr., was born on 3 August 27, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland, to 4 Reberta Waring and Simeon Saunders Booker, Sr., 5 a YMCA director and minister. 6 (2) After his family moved to Youngstown, 7 Ohio, Booker became interested in journalism. 8 (3) Booker promoted and wrote about Negro 9 League baseball teams in Youngstown’s local news- 10 paper, The Vindicator. 11 (4) In 1945, he moved back to Ohio to work for 12 the Call and Post, where he became the first Afri- 13 can-American reporter to win a Newspaper Guild 14 Award for his series on Cleveland, Ohio, slum hous- 15 ing, and a Willkie Award for reporting on racial in- 16 equities in the public schools. 17 (5) In 1950, Booker was the recipient of the 18 Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University to 19 study journalism and develop his talent as a re- 20 porter. 21 (6) After leaving Harvard in 1951, Booker be- 22 came the first full-time African-American reporter at 23 The Washington Post. 24 (7) In 1955, he helped to advance the civil 25 rights movement with his famous coverage of the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1355.IH H1355 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1355 IH Emmett Till murder and trial, turning a common 1 occurrence in the Deep South into a national trag- 2 edy that united the Black community. 3 (8) He remained at the forefront of the civil 4 rights movement, reporting on the 1957 integration 5 of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. 6 (9) In 1961, he rode with the Congress on Ra- 7 cial Equality (CORE) Freedom Riders through the 8 Deep South. 9 (10) When the Freedom Riders were 10 firebombed and beaten in Anniston, Alabama, in a 11 Ku Klux Klan ambush, Booker arranged for their 12 rescue by calling U.S. Attorney General Robert F. 13 Kennedy. 14 (11) In two wartime tours of Vietnam in the 15 1960s, he interviewed Black troops on the front 16 lines, and took enemy fire in a helicopter with 17 United States Army General William Westmoreland 18 for reports for Jet and Ebony magazines. 19 (12) He has chronicled the most tumultuous pe- 20 riod in American history in two highly acclaimed 21 books, Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter’s Ac- 22 count of the Civil Rights Movement (University 23 Press of Mississippi, 2013), and Black Man’s Amer- 24 ica (Prentice Hall, 1964). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1355.IH H1355 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1355 IH (13) Often called the ‘‘dean of the black press’’, 1 as chief of Ebony and Jet magazines’ Washington 2 bureau, he interviewed presidents, senators and rep- 3 resentatives, members of the judiciary, cabinet offi- 4 cers, foreign ambassadors, and other important 5 members of the Washington community. His col- 6 umn, ‘‘Ticker Tape U.S.A.’’ became a must-read for 7 politicians and government officials. 8 (14) He covered every Presidential election 9 since the Eisenhower Administration in his fifty- 10 three years with Johnson Publishing until he retired 11 in 2007. 12 (15) In 1982, Booker received one of the most 13 prestigious awards in journalism, the National Press 14 Club’s Fourth Estate Award. 15 (16) His honors and awards include: Nieman 16 Fellowship, Harvard University 1950; elected presi- 17 dent of the Capitol Press Club, 1956; Fourth Estate 18 Award, National Press Club, 1982; inducted into 19 Hall of Fame, Washington Chapter of Sigma Delta 20 Chi, and Hall of Fame of Washington, DC, 1984; 21 Master Communicators Award, National Black 22 Media Coalition, 1998; Phoenix Award, Congres- 23 sional Black Caucus Foundation, 2010; inducted 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1355.IH H1355 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1355 IH into Hall of Fame, National Association of Black 1 Journalists, 2013. 2 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 3 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 4 the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tem- 5 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 6 for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con- 7 gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design, in commemo- 8 ration of Simeon Saunders Booker, Jr., in recognition of 9 his achievements in the field of journalism, including his 10 reporting during the Civil Rights movement and his social 11 and political commentary. 12 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 13 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 14 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec- 15 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 16 devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec- 17 retary. 18 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 20 gold medal in honor of Simeon Saunders Booker, 21 Jr., under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be 22 given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it shall 23 be available for display as appropriate and made 24 available for research. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1355.IH H1355 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1355 IH (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 1 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution shall 2 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 3 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 4 appropriate locations associated with the life of 5 Simeon Saunders Booker, Jr. 6 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 7 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 8 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 9 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 10 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 11 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 12 and the cost of the gold medal. 13 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 14 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu- 15 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 16 51 of title 31, United States Code. 17 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 18 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 19 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 20 items. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:06 Mar 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1355.IH H1355 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS