I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9329 

To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Prince Hall, in recognition of his service to the Black Community as the founder of the 

first Black Masonic lodge. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 9, 2024 

Mr. GREEN of Texas 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 

Prince Hall, in recognition of his service to the Black 

Community as the founder of the first Black Masonic 

lodge. 

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

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) This Act is original legislation to post6 humously award a Congressional Gold Medal to 

7 Prince Hall. 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 9329 IH

1 (2) Prince Hall was a free Black man who lived 

2 in colonial Boston, Massachusetts circa 1735 to 

3 1807. 

4 (3) Prince Hall was an ardent abolitionist and 

5 prolific activist in Boston, Massachusetts during the 

6 American Revolutionary period. 

7 (4) In 1775, after being denied by an all-White 

8 Masonic lodge, Hall and 14 other free Black men 

9 formed their own lodge. 

10 (5) Prince Hall was elected as the leader, or 

11 ‘‘Worshipful Master’’, within the newly formed Afri12 can Lodge #1, later renamed African Lodge No. 

13 459. 

14 (6) Because of this action Prince Hall is known 

15 as the ‘‘Father of Black Freemasonry’’. 

16 (7) Prince Hall Freemasonry is recognized by 

17 many as the oldest continuously active organization 

18 founded by African Americans in the United States. 

19 (8) The Prince Hall Freemasons employed ad20 vocacy and community work to assist Blacks seeking 

21 citizenship, education, and economic advancement. 

22 (9) In 1777, Prince Hall petitioned the Massa23 chusetts government to abolish slavery and is consid24 ered by some to be the first to publicly proclaim that 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 9329 IH

1 Black people should be granted the rights laid out 

2 in the Declaration of Independence. 

3 (10) In 1787, a committee of 12 from the Afri4 can Lodge, headed by Worshipful Master Hall, 

5 drafted, ‘‘The Boston Plan—a detailed plan for Afri6 can Americans to return to Africa—to free them7 selves from their hostile living conditions in the 

8 United States’’. 

9 (11) The resettlement plan requested the Mas10 sachusetts General Court to provide passage for 

11 families with the necessary provisions, utensils, and 

12 articles, as well as money to procure lands to settle 

13 upon. 

14 (12) In 1788, Prince Hall petitioned the Massa15 chusetts legislature to protect Black sailors from 

16 being kidnapped and sold into slavery. 

17 (13) Prince Hall’s influence remains within the 

18 5,000 lodges and 47 grand lodges who trace their 

19 lineage to the original lodge he founded. 

20 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

21 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 

22 House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 

23 of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 

24 award, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of ap25 propriate design dedicated to Prince Hall, in recognition 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 9329 IH

1 of his service to the Black Community as the founder of 

2 the first Black Masonic lodge. 

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

4 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

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

6 strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 

7 inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 

8 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 

10 gold medal described in subsection (a), the gold 

11 medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, 

12 where it shall be displayed at the National Museum 

13 of African American History and Culture and made 

14 available for research. 

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

16 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 

17 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 

18 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 

19 appropriate locations associated with Prince Hall. 

20 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

21 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

22 bronze of the gold medals struck under section 2, at a 

23 price sufficient to cover the costs thereof, including labor, 

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


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 9329 IH

1 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

2 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck under 

3 this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 

4 of title 31, United States Code. 

5 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

6 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

7 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

8 items. 

9 SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 

10 SALE. 

11 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 

12 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

13 Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec14 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 

15 this Act. 

16 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

17 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

18 3 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

19 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS