IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1815 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 18, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

AN ACT 

To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lena 

Horne in recognition of her achievements and contributions to American culture and the civil rights movement. 

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. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lena Horne Recogni3 tion Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds as follows: 

6 (1) Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born on 

7 June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. 

8 (2) At the age of 16, Lena Horne was hired as 

9 a dancer in the chorus of Harlem’s famous Cotton 

10 Club, where she was introduced to such legendary 

11 jazz performers as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, 

12 Count Basie, Ethel Waters, and Billie Holiday. 

13 (3) In 1940, Lena Horne became one of the 

14 first African-American women to perform with an 

15 all-White band when she toured with Charlie 

16 Barnet’s jazz band as its featured singer. 

17 (4) Lena Horne was discovered by a Metro18 Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) talent scout and became the 

19 first Black artist to sign a long-term contract with 

20 a major studio. 

21 (5) Despite her extraordinary beauty and tal22 ent, Lena Horne was often limited to minor acting 

23 roles because of her race. 

24 (6) Scenes in which she did sing were cut out 

25 when they were sent to local distributors in the 

26 South and studio executives cast Ava Gardner as 


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1 Julie in the film version of Show Boat instead of 

2 Lena Horne because they did not want it to star a 

3 Black actress. 

4 (7) However, Lena Horne dazzled audiences 

5 and critics in a number of films, including Cabin in 

6 the Sky and Stormy Weather. 

7 (8) During World War II, Lena Horne toured 

8 extensively with the United Service Organizations 

9 (USO) on the West Coast and in the South in sup10 port of the troops and expressed outrage about the 

11 way Black soldiers were treated. 

12 (9) She refused to sing for segregated audiences 

13 or to groups in which German prisoners of war were 

14 seated in front of African-American servicemen. 

15 (10) During the period of McCarthyism in the 

16 1950s, Lena Horne was blacklisted as a communist 

17 for 7 years because of her civil rights activism and 

18 friendship with Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du Bois. 

19 (11) Although Lena Horne continued to face 

20 discrimination, her musical and acting career flour21 ished. 

22 (12) In 1957, Lena Horne recorded Lena 

23 Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria, which reached the 

24 Top 10 and became the best-selling album by a fe25 male singer in RCA Victor’s history. 


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1 (13) Lena Horne rose to international stardom 

2 and toured the world, sharing the stage with such 

3 names as Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Billy 

4 Eckstein, Vic Damone, and Harry Belafonte and 

5 also starred in musical and television specials with 

6 such giants as Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, and 

7 Frank Sinatra. 

8 (14) Lena Horne used her fame to become a 

9 powerful voice for civil rights and equality. 

10 (15) In 1963, she participated in the historic 

11 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at 

12 which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his im13 mortal ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech. 

14 (16) Lena Horne also performed at rallies 

15 throughout the country for the National Council for 

16 Negro Women and worked with the National Asso17 ciation for the Advancement of Colored People 

18 (NAACP), of which she was a member since the age 

19 of 2, the National Council of Negro Women, the 

20 Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and the Urban League. 

21 (17) Through the end of the 20th century, 

22 Lena Horne continued to entertain large audiences 

23 of all ages and backgrounds and appeared on nu24 merous television shows, including Sesame Street, 


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1 Sanford and Son, The Muppet Show, The Cosby 

2 Show, and A Different World. 

3 (18) In 1978, she was in the film adaption of 

4 The Wiz. 

5 (19) In 1981, Ms. Horne captivated audiences 

6 with her one-woman Broadway show, Lena Horne: 

7 The Lady and Her Music, which enjoyed a 14- 

8 month run before going on tour and earned her a 

9 special Tony and two Grammy awards. 

10 (20) In 2002, 73 years after the Academy 

11 Awards were first awarded, Halle Berry became the 

12 first Black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress 

13 and recognized in her acceptance speech how Lena 

14 Horne paved the way for her and other Black ac15 tresses. 

16 (21) Lena Horne passed away in New York 

17 City on May 9, 2010, at the age of 92. 

18 (22) Lena Horne was an entertainer, activist, 

19 and mother who used her beauty, talent, and intel20 ligence to fight racial discrimination and injustice 

21 and rise to international stardom. 

22 (23) A symbol of elegance and grace, she enter23 tained people of all walks of life for over 60 years 

24 and broke barriers for future generations. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

2 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

3 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem4 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

5 for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con6 gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemo7 ration of Lena Horne in recognition of her achievements 

8 and contributions to American culture and the civil rights 

9 movement. 

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

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

12 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec13 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

14 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec15 retary. 

16 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

17 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

18 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 

19 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

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

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

22 and the cost of the gold medal. 

23 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

24 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu25 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

26 51 of title 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. 

4 SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 

5 SALE. 

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

7 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

8 Public Enterprise Fund, such amounts as may be nec9 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant 

10 to this Act. 

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

12 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

13 3 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

14 Enterprise Fund. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 17, 2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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