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 political 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. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Simeon Saunders Booker, Jr., was born on 

4 August 27, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland, to 

5 Reberta Waring and Simeon Saunders Booker, Sr., 

6 a YMCA director and minister. 

7 (2) After his family moved to Youngstown, 

8 Ohio, Booker became interested in journalism. 

9 (3) Booker promoted and wrote about Negro 

10 League baseball teams in Youngstown’s local news11 paper, The Vindicator. 

12 (4) In 1945, he moved back to Ohio to work for 

13 the Call and Post, where he became the first Afri14 can-American reporter to win a Newspaper Guild 

15 Award for his series on Cleveland, Ohio, slum hous16 ing, and a Willkie Award for reporting on racial in17 equities in the public schools. 

18 (5) In 1950, Booker was the recipient of the 

19 Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University to 

20 study journalism and develop his talent as a re21 porter. 

22 (6) After leaving Harvard in 1951, Booker be23 came the first full-time African-American reporter at 

24 The Washington Post. 

25 (7) In 1955, he helped to advance the civil 

26 rights movement with his famous coverage of the 


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1 Emmett Till murder and trial, turning a common 

2 occurrence in the Deep South into a national trag3 edy that united the Black community. 

4 (8) He remained at the forefront of the civil 

5 rights movement, reporting on the 1957 integration 

6 of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

7 (9) In 1961, he rode with the Congress on Ra8 cial Equality (CORE) Freedom Riders through the 

9 Deep South. 

10 (10) When the Freedom Riders were 

11 firebombed and beaten in Anniston, Alabama, in a 

12 Ku Klux Klan ambush, Booker arranged for their 

13 rescue by calling U.S. Attorney General Robert F. 

14 Kennedy. 

15 (11) In two wartime tours of Vietnam in the 

16 1960s, he interviewed Black troops on the front 

17 lines, and took enemy fire in a helicopter with 

18 United States Army General William Westmoreland 

19 for reports for Jet and Ebony magazines. 

20 (12) He has chronicled the most tumultuous pe21 riod in American history in two highly acclaimed 

22 books, Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter’s Ac23 count of the Civil Rights Movement (University 

24 Press of Mississippi, 2013), and Black Man’s Amer25 ica (Prentice Hall, 1964). 


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1 (13) Often called the ‘‘dean of the black press’’, 

2 as chief of Ebony and Jet magazines’ Washington 

3 bureau, he interviewed presidents, senators and rep4 resentatives, members of the judiciary, cabinet offi5 cers, foreign ambassadors, and other important 

6 members of the Washington community. His col7 umn, ‘‘Ticker Tape U.S.A.’’ became a must-read for 

8 politicians and government officials. 

9 (14) He covered every Presidential election 

10 since the Eisenhower Administration in his fifty11 three years with Johnson Publishing until he retired 

12 in 2007. 

13 (15) In 1982, Booker received one of the most 

14 prestigious awards in journalism, the National Press 

15 Club’s Fourth Estate Award. 

16 (16) His honors and awards include: Nieman 

17 Fellowship, Harvard University 1950; elected presi18 dent of the Capitol Press Club, 1956; Fourth Estate 

19 Award, National Press Club, 1982; inducted into 

20 Hall of Fame, Washington Chapter of Sigma Delta 

21 Chi, and Hall of Fame of Washington, DC, 1984; 

22 Master Communicators Award, National Black 

23 Media Coalition, 1998; Phoenix Award, Congres24 sional Black Caucus Foundation, 2010; inducted 


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1 into Hall of Fame, National Association of Black 

2 Journalists, 2013. 

3 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

4 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

5 the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tem6 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

7 for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con8 gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design, in commemo9 ration of Simeon Saunders Booker, Jr., in recognition of 

10 his achievements in the field of journalism, including his 

11 reporting during the Civil Rights movement and his social 

12 and political commentary. 

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

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

15 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec16 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

17 devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec18 retary. 

19 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

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

21 gold medal in honor of Simeon Saunders Booker, 

22 Jr., under subsection (a), the gold medal shall be 

23 given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it shall 

24 be available for display as appropriate and made 

25 available for research. 


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

2 Congress that the Smithsonian Institution shall 

3 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 

4 available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 

5 appropriate locations associated with the life of 

6 Simeon Saunders Booker, Jr. 

7 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

8 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

9 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 

10 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

11 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

12 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

13 and the cost of the gold medal. 

14 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

15 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu16 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

17 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

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

19 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

20 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

21 items. 

Æ 


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