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. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. CARSON, Ms. NORTON, and 

Ms. TLAIB) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans, 

and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Sarah Keys Evans 

5 Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Sarah Keys Evans was born on April 18, 

2 1929, in Washington, North Carolina, in a town 

3 called Keysville, the second oldest of seven children. 

4 (2) Sarah Keys, an Army veteran and civil 

5 rights pioneer, is a living example that change is 

6 possible if we are willing to stand up and fight for 

7 what is right. 

8 (3) Before the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks and 

9 the Montgomery bus boycott that followed, there was 

10 Sarah Keys Evans. Her refusal to give up her seat 

11 on an interstate charter bus prompted the landmark 

12 court case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, 

13 in which the Interstate Commerce Commission 

14 (ICC) outlawed the segregation of Black passengers 

15 in buses traveling across State lines. 

16 (4) On August 1, 1952, Women’s Army Corps, 

17 Private First Class Sarah Keys, boarded a bus in 

18 Trenton, New Jersey, for her first home visit to 

19 Washington, North Carolina, since joining the mili20 tary. The bus she boarded would take her directly to 

21 her North Carolina destination without any required 

22 bus changes. 

23 (5) Once the bus reached Roanoke Rapids, 

24 North Carolina, a new driver took over the bus and 

25 as was custom, went through the bus and rechecked 


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1 tickets. When he came to Ms. Keys, he told her to 

2 give up her seat to a White Marine who boarded the 

3 bus in Roanoke Rapids and move to the back of the 

4 bus. Tired from her long journey and understanding 

5 her rights, Sarah refused. 

6 (6) Six years prior, in 1946, there was a Su7 preme Court decision (Morgan v. Virginia) that said 

8 it was illegal to practice passenger segregation on 

9 interstate buses, but local jurisdictions found ways 

10 to circumvent Federal laws. 

11 (7) Frustrated with her persistence, the bus 

12 driver announced that all passengers would be mov13 ing to a different bus, but ‘‘that woman’’ who re14 fused to change her seat, referring to Ms. Keys, 

15 would not be allowed to board the new bus and 

16 would not be allowed to continue the trip. 

17 (8) Shortly thereafter, two police officers ar18 rived at the bus terminal, took Sarah by the arms 

19 into a patrol car and drove her to the Roanoke Rap20 ids police station. Because she refused to be sub21 jected to unjust discrimination and prejudice, she 

22 was forced to stay in jail overnight and was fined 

23 $25.00 before her release. 


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1 (9) Once Sarah arrived home and informed her 

2 family of the injustice she endured, her father en3 couraged her to seek legal action. 

4 (10) The National Association for the Advance5 ment of Colored People (NAACP) referred the fam6 ily to attorney Dovey Johnson Roundtree, a Captain 

7 in the Women’s Army Corps, who brought her case 

8 before the ICC. The ICC meeting in the District of 

9 Columbia took place on May 12, 1954. It was de10 cided by only one member of the ICC. 

11 (11) New York Congressman Adam Clayton 

12 Powell, Jr., agreed it was not fair that the other 10 

13 members of the ICC were not involved in the deci14 sion. Congressman Powell helped persuade the ICC 

15 to reconsider its decision. 

16 (12) After the Supreme Court decision on 

17 Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954, and 

18 with the support of Department of Justice Attorney 

19 General Herbert Brownell, the ICC reached a new 

20 decision. A majority of the ICC members had de21 cided that it was wrong for people on State-to-State 

22 trips to be forced to sit in certain seats on a bus be23 cause of the color of their skin and that it was 

24 against the law. 


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1 (13) The ICC decision on November 25, 1955, 

2 went further than the Supreme Court’s ruling in 

3 1946 which had outlawed only unfair laws that a 

4 State might make, not rules that a bus company 

5 might make. 

6 (14) In Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Com7 pany, the ICC ruled in favor of Keys Evans. In their 

8 decision, the Commission found the Interstate Com9 merce Act forbids segregation as the practice sub10 jects passengers to ‘‘unjust discrimination, and 

11 undue and unreasonable prejudice and disadvantage, 

12 in violation of section 216(d) of the Interstate Com13 merce Act and is therefore unlawful’’. 

14 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

15 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

16 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem17 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

18 for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 

19 medal of appropriate design to Mrs. Sarah Keys Evans, 

20 in recognition of her achievements. 

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

22 presentation under subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

23 Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 

24 strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 

25 inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 


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1 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

2 (a) STRIKING OF DUPLICATES.—Under such regula3 tions as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may 

4 strike duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under 

5 section 3. 

6 (b) SELLING OF DUPLICATES.—The Secretary may 

7 sell such duplicates under subsection (a) at a price suffi8 cient to cover the costs of such duplicates, including labor, 

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

10 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

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

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

13 31, United States Code. 

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

15 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

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

Æ 


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