II 

Calendar No. 214 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1396 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 

AN ACT 

To award Congressional Gold Medals to Katherine Johnson 

and Dr. Christine Darden, to posthumously award Congressional Gold Medals to Dorothy Vaughan and Mary 

Jackson, and to award a Congressional Gold Medal to 

honor all of the women who contributed to the success 

of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

during the Space Race. 

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 ‘‘Hidden Figures Con5 gressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) In 1935, the National Advisory Committee 

2 for Aeronautics (referred to in this section as 

3 ‘‘NACA’’) hired five women to serve as the first 

4 ‘‘computer pool’’ at the Langley Memorial Aero5 nautical Laboratory where those women took on 

6 work making calculations that male engineers had 

7 made previously. 

8 (2) During the 1940s, NACA began recruiting 

9 African-American women to work as computers and 

10 initially separated those women from their White 

11 counterparts in a group known as the ‘‘West Area 

12 Computers’’ where the women were restricted to seg13 regated dining and bathroom facilities. 

14 (3) Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 

15 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. 

16 (4) In 1953, Katherine Johnson began her ca17 reer in aeronautics as a computer in the segregated 

18 West Area Computing unit described in paragraph 

19 (2). 

20 (5) As a member of the Flight Research Divi21 sion, Katherine Johnson analyzed data from flight 

22 tests. After NACA was reformulated into the Na23 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration (re24 ferred to in this section as ‘‘NASA’’), Katherine 

25 Johnson— 


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1 (A) calculated the trajectory for Alan 

2 Shepard’s Freedom 7 mission in 1961, which 

3 was the first human spaceflight by an indi4 vidual from the United States; 

5 (B) coauthored a report that provided the 

6 equations for describing orbital spaceflight with 

7 a specified landing point, which made her the 

8 first woman to be recognized as an author of a 

9 report from the Flight Research Division; 

10 (C) was asked to verify the calculations 

11 when electronic computers at NASA were used 

12 to calculate the orbit for John Glenn’s Friend13 ship 7 mission; and 

14 (D) provided calculations for NASA 

15 throughout her career, including for the Apollo 

16 missions. 

17 (6) Katherine Johnson retired from NASA in 

18 1986. 

19 (7) Dr. Christine Darden was born on Sep20 tember 10, 1942, in Monroe, North Carolina. 

21 (8) In 1962, Dr. Christine Darden graduated 

22 from Hampton Institute with a B.S. in Mathematics 

23 and a teaching credential. 


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1 (9) Dr. Christine Darden attended Virginia 

2 State University where she studied aerosol physics 

3 and earned an M.S. in Applied Mathematics. 

4 (10) Dr. Christine Darden began her career in 

5 aeronautics in 1967 as a data analyst at NASA’s 

6 Langley Research Center (referred to in this section 

7 as ‘‘Langley’’) before being promoted to aerospace 

8 engineer in 1973. Her work in this position resulted 

9 in the production of low-boom sonic effects, which 

10 revolutionized aerodynamics design. 

11 (11) Dr. Christine Darden completed her edu12 cation by earning a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineer13 ing from George Washington University in 1983. 

14 (12) While working at NASA, Dr. Christine 

15 Darden— 

16 (A) was appointed to be the leader of the 

17 Sonic Boom Team, which worked on designs to 

18 minimize the effects of sonic booms by testing 

19 wing and nose designs for supersonic aircraft; 

20 (B) wrote more than 50 articles on aero21 nautics design; and 

22 (C) became the first African American to 

23 be promoted to a position in the Senior Execu24 tive Service at Langley. 


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1 (13) Dorothy Vaughan was born on September 

2 20, 1910, in Kansas City, Missouri. 

3 (14) Dorothy Vaughan began working for 

4 NACA in 1943. Dorothy Vaughan— 

5 (A) started at NACA as a member of the 

6 West Area Computing unit; 

7 (B) was promoted to be the head of the 

8 West Area Computing unit, becoming NACA’s 

9 first African-American supervisor, a position 

10 that she held for 9 years; and 

11 (C) became an expert programmer in 

12 FORTRAN as a member of NASA’s Analysis 

13 and Computation Division. 

14 (15) Dorothy Vaughan retired from NASA in 

15 1971 and died on November 10, 2008. 

16 (16) Mary Jackson was born on April 9, 1921, 

17 in Hampton, Virginia. 

18 (17) Mary Jackson started her career at NACA 

19 in 1951, working as a computer as a member of the 

20 West Area Computing unit. 

21 (18) After petitioning the City of Hampton to 

22 allow her to take graduate-level courses in math and 

23 physics at night at the all-White Hampton High 

24 School, Mary Jackson was able to complete the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.PCS H1396

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1 quired training to become an engineer, making her 

2 NASA’s first female African-American engineer. 

3 (19) Mary Jackson— 

4 (A) while at NACA and NASA— 

5 (i) worked in the Theoretical Aero6 dynamics Branch of the Subsonic-Tran7 sonic Aerodynamics Division at Langley 

8 where she analyzed wind tunnel and air9 craft flight data; and 

10 (ii) published a dozen technical papers 

11 that focused on the boundary layer of air 

12 around airplanes; and 

13 (B) after 21 years working as an engineer 

14 at NASA, transitioned to a new job as 

15 Langley’s Federal Women’s Program Manager 

16 where she worked to improve the prospects of 

17 NASA’s female mathematicians, engineers, and 

18 scientists. 

19 (20) Mary Jackson retired from NASA in 1985 

20 and died in 2005. 

21 (21) These four women, along with the other 

22 African-American women in NASA’s West Area 

23 Computing unit, were integral to the success of the 

24 early space program. The stories of these four 

25 women exemplify the experiences of hundreds of 


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1 women who worked as computers, mathematicians, 

2 and engineers at NACA beginning in the 1930s and 

3 their handmade calculations played an integral role 

4 in— 

5 (A) aircraft testing during World War II; 

6 (B) supersonic flight research; 

7 (C) sending the Voyager probes to explore 

8 the solar system; and 

9 (D) the United States landing the first 

10 man on the lunar surface. 

11 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS. 

12 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

13 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem14 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

15 for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of five gold 

16 medals of appropriate design as follows: 

17 (1) One gold medal to Katherine Johnson in 

18 recognition of her service to the United States as a 

19 mathematician. 

20 (2) One gold medal to Dr. Christine Darden for 

21 her service to the United States as an aeronautical 

22 engineer. 

23 (3) In recognition of their service to the United 

24 States during the Space Race— 


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1 (A) one gold medal commemorating the life 

2 of Dorothy Vaughan; and 

3 (B) one gold medal commemorating the 

4 life of Mary Jackson. 

5 (4) One gold medal in recognition of all women 

6 who served as computers, mathematicians, and engi7 neers at the National Advisory Committee for Aero8 nautics and the National Aeronautics and Space Ad9 ministration between the 1930s and the 1970s (re10 ferred to in this section as ‘‘recognized women’’). 

11 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 

12 awards under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treas13 ury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike 

14 each gold medal described in that subsection with suitable 

15 emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by 

16 the Secretary. 

17 (c) TRANSFER OF CERTAIN MEDALS AFTER PRES18 ENTATION.— 

19 (1) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—After the award of the 

21 gold medal commemorating the life of Dorothy 

22 Vaughan under subsection (a)(3)(A) and the 

23 award of the gold medal in recognition of recog24 nized women under subsection (a)(4), those 


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1 medals shall be given to the Smithsonian Insti2 tution where the medals shall be— 

3 (i) available for display, as appro4 priate; and 

5 (ii) made available for research. 

6 (B) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense 

7 of Congress that the Smithsonian Institution 

8 should make the gold medals received under 

9 subparagraph (A) available for— 

10 (i) display, particularly at the Na11 tional Museum of African American His12 tory and Culture; or 

13 (ii) loan, as appropriate, so that the 

14 medals may be displayed elsewhere. 

15 (2) TRANSFER TO FAMILY.—After the award of 

16 the gold medal in honor of Mary Jackson under sub17 section (a)(3)(B), the medal shall be given to her 

18 granddaughter, Wanda Jackson. 

19 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

20 Under regulations that the Secretary may promul21 gate, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

22 bronze of the gold medals struck under this Act, at a price 

23 sufficient to cover the cost of the medals, including labor, 

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


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1 SEC. 5. 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. 6. 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 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

19 Enterprise Fund. 

20 SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

21 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

22 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

23 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 

24 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

25 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

26 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, proVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Sep 24, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1396.PCS H1396

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1 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

2 vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 19, 

2019. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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Calendar No. 214 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1396 

AN ACT 

To award Congressional Gold Medals to Katherine 

tion during the Space Race. the National Aeronautics and Space Administraof the women who contributed to the success of award a Congressional Gold Medal to honor all Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, and to humously award Congressional Gold Medals to Johnson and Dr. Christine Darden, to postSEPTEMBER 23, 2019 

Received; read twice and placed on the calendar 


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