I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1815 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 10, 2011 

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida (for himself, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, 

Mr. RANGEL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. HINCHEY, 

Mr. MEEKS, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. 

JACKSON LEE of Texas, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. WEST, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, 

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. 

SERRANO, Mr. BACA, and Mrs. CHRISTENSEN) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lena Horne Recogni5 tion Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born on 

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

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

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

7 Club, where she was introduced to such legendary 

8 jazz performers as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, 

9 Count Basie, Ethel Waters, and Billie Holiday. 

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

11 first African-American women to perform with an 

12 all-White band when she toured with Charlie 

13 Barnet’s jazz band as its featured singer. 

14 (4) Lena Horne was discovered by a Metro15 Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) talent scout and became the 

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

17 a major studio. 

18 (5) Despite her extraordinary beauty and tal19 ent, Lena Horne was often limited to minor acting 

20 roles because of her race. 

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

22 when they were sent to local distributors in the 

23 South and studio executives cast Ava Gardner as 

24 Julie in the film version of Show Boat instead of 

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

26 Black actress. 


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1 (7) However, Lena Horne dazzled audiences 

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

3 the Sky and Stormy Weather. 

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

5 extensively with the United Service Organizations 

6 (USO) on the West Coast and in the South in sup7 port of the troops and expressed outrage about the 

8 way Black soldiers were treated. 

9 (9) She refused to sing for segregated audiences 

10 or to groups in which German prisoners of war were 

11 seated in front of African-American servicemen. 

12 (10) During the period of McCarthyism in the 

13 1950s, Lena Horne was blacklisted as a communist 

14 for 7 years because of her civil rights activism and 

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

16 (11) Although Lena Horne continued to face 

17 discrimination, her musical and acting career flour18 ished. 

19 (12) In 1957, Lena Horne recorded Lena 

20 Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria, which reached the 

21 Top 10 and became the best-selling album by a fe22 male singer in RCA Victor’s history. 

23 (13) Lena Horne rose to international stardom 

24 and toured the world, sharing the stage with such 

25 names as Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Billy 


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1 Eckstein, Vic Damone, and Harry Belafonte and 

2 also starred in musical and television specials with 

3 such giants as Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, and 

4 Frank Sinatra. 

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

6 powerful voice for civil rights and equality. 

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

8 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at 

9 which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his im10 mortal ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech. 

11 (16) Lena Horne also performed at rallies 

12 throughout the country for the National Council for 

13 Negro Women and worked with the National Asso14 ciation for the Advancement of Colored People 

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

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

17 Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and the Urban League. 

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

19 Lena Horne continued to entertain large audiences 

20 of all ages and backgrounds and appeared on nu21 merous television shows, including Sesame Street, 

22 Sanford and Son, The Muppet Show, The Cosby 

23 Show, and A Different World. 

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

25 The Wiz. 


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

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

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

4 month run before going on tour and earned her a 

5 special Tony and two Grammy awards. 

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

7 Awards were first awarded, Halle Berry became the 

8 first Black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress 

9 and recognized in her acceptance speech how Lena 

10 Horne paved the way for her and other Black ac11 tresses. 

12 (21) Lena Horne passed away in New York 

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

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

15 and mother who used her beauty, talent, and intel16 ligence to fight racial discrimination and injustice 

17 and rise to international stardom. 

18 (23) A symbol of elegance and grace, she enter19 tained people of all walks of life for over 60 years 

20 and broke barriers for future generations. 

21 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

22 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

23 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem24 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

25 for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the ConVerDate Mar 15 2010 06:04 May 12, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1815.IH H1815

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1 gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemo2 ration of Lena Horne in recognition of her achievements 

3 and contributions to American culture and the civil rights 

4 movement. 

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

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

7 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec8 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

9 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec10 retary. 

11 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

12 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

13 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 

14 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

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

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

17 and the cost of the gold medal. 

18 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

19 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu20 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

21 51 of title 31, United States Code. 

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

23 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 

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


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

2 SALE. 

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

4 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

5 Public Enterprise Fund, such amounts as may be nec6 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant 

7 to this Act. 

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

9 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

10 3 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

11 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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