II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 450 

To award posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal to Emmett Till and 

Mamie Till-Mobley. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2021 

Mr. BURR (for himself, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BENNET, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CASEY, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. COONS, 

Mr. CORNYN, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. 

FEINSTEIN, Mr. HAWLEY, Ms. HIRONO, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. KING, 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. 

MERKLEY, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. REED, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. 

RUBIO, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. 

WARNOCK, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. 

WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To award posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal to 

Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emmett Till and 

5 Mamie Till-Mobley Congressional Gold Medal Act of 

6 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The brutal lynching of Emmett Till and the 

4 subsequent bravery and boldness of his mother, 

5 Mamie Till-Mobley, became a catalyst for the civil 

6 rights movement. 

7 (2) On August 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett 

8 Till was kidnapped, beaten, and shot in Money, Mis9 sissippi, where he had traveled from Chicago to stay 

10 with his great uncle, Moses Wright. 

11 (3) The corpse of Emmett Till was discovered 

12 3 days later in the Tallahatchie River and his mur13 derers were acquitted despite Moses Wright pro14 viding an eyewitness testimony that the men on trial 

15 kidnapped Emmett Till. 

16 (4) Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett 

17 Till, demonstrated her love for her son and her cour18 age and strength in suffering in the days that fol19 lowed as she brought the body of Emmett Till back 

20 to Chicago for burial and demanded an open casket 

21 funeral, which drew more than 50,000 attendees. 

22 (5) Mamie Till-Mobley further allowed a photo23 graph to be taken of Emmett Till in his casket, 

24 which was shown throughout the world. 

25 (6) The original casket of Emmett Till stands 

26 on display at the National Museum of African AmerVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S450.IS S450

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1 ican History and Culture as an enduring reminder 

2 of the racial violence that is a part of the history of 

3 the United States that the people of the United 

4 States must confront. 

5 (7) The heroic actions of Mamie Till-Mobley in 

6 the midst of evil, injustice, and grief became a cata7 lyst for the civil rights movement and continued in 

8 the years to come as she worked for justice and hon9 ored the legacy of Emmett Till. 

10 (8) Mamie Till-Mobley went on to create the 

11 Emmett Till Players, which was a significant na12 tional cultural contribution as teenagers traveled 

13 throughout the country presenting Martin Luther 

14 King, Jr., speeches in the name of Emmett Till. 

15 (9) Mamie Till-Mobley also served as chair and 

16 co-founder of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, 

17 which had the dual mission of reopening the murder 

18 of Emmett Till for a reinvestigation and a passage 

19 into law of Federal legislation to ensure that other 

20 racially motivated murders during the civil rights era 

21 were investigated and, when possible, prosecuted. 

22 (10) The efforts of the Emmett Till Justice 

23 Campaign led to the successful joint investigation by 

24 the State of Mississippi, the Federal Bureau of In25 vestigation, and the Department of Justice in 2004, 


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1 the passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil 

2 Rights Crime Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–344; 

3 122 Stat. 3934), signed into law by President 

4 George W. Bush, and the Emmett Till Unsolved 

5 Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016 

6 (Public Law 114–325; 130 Stat. 1965), signed into 

7 law by President Barack Obama. 

8 (11) The people of the United States honor the 

9 legacy of Emmett Till and the incredible suffering 

10 and equally incredible courage, resilience, and efforts 

11 of Mamie Till-Mobley that led to the civil rights 

12 movement that began in the 1950s. 

13 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

14 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

15 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem16 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

17 for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, 

18 of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration 

19 of Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley. 

20 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 

21 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

22 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec23 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

24 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec25 retary. 


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1 (c) AWARD OF MEDAL.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—After the award of the gold 

3 medal referred to in subsection (a), the gold medal 

4 shall be given to the National Museum of African 

5 American History and Culture, where it shall be dis6 played as appropriate. 

7 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

8 Congress that the National Museum of African 

9 American History and Culture should make the gold 

10 medal received under paragraph (1) available for 

11 display elsewhere, particularly at other locations and 

12 events associated with Emmett Till and Mamie Till13 Mobley. 

14 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

15 Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre16 scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

17 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3, at a price 

18 sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 

19 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 

20 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

21 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck under this 

22 Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 

23 31, United States Code. 


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1 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 

2 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

3 under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 

Æ 


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