I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3990 

To grant the Congressional Gold Medal to John H. Johnson in recognition 

of his outstanding contributions to the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 3, 2009 

Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To grant the Congressional Gold Medal to John H. Johnson 

in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the 

United States. 

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 makes the following findings: 

5 (1) John H. Johnson published the first edition 

6 of the Negro Digest in 1942, having conceived of the 

7 idea while working at the Supreme Life Insurance 

8 Company. 


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1 (2) This publication covered African-American 

2 history, literature, arts, and cultural issues and 

3 reached a circulation of 50,000 within six months. 

4 (3) Renamed to Black World, the publication 

5 reached a circulation of more than 100,000 sub6 scribers at its peak. 

7 (4) Johnson’s later creation, Ebony magazine, 

8 supplanted this record in selling out its initial run 

9 of 25,000 printed copies and at its height had 

10 2,300,000 subscribers. 

11 (5) Through Ebony magazine, Johnson pro12 vided insight into the African-American community 

13 by reporting on issues such as ‘‘the white problem 

14 in America’’, African-American militancy, crimes by 

15 African-Americans against African-Americans, civil 

16 rights legislation, freedom rides and marches, and 

17 other aspects of segregation and discrimination. 

18 (6) Johnson worked to ensure that the con19 tributions of African-Americans to the United States 

20 were documented by trained historians who were 

21 brought on to the magazine’s staff. 

22 (7) Striving to show positive images of African23 Americans, Johnson featured African-American 

24 models in the magazine’s advertisements, and a conVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:00 Nov 04, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3990.IH H3990

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1 certed effort was made to show positive aspects of 

2 African-American life and culture. 

3 (8) Johnson’s quest to serve African-American 

4 readers continued in subsequent years by launching 

5 four other magazines entitled Tan, Jet, African 

6 American Stars, and Ebony Jr., a children’s maga7 zine. 

8 (9) Johnson later expanded his enterprise when 

9 becoming chairman and chief executive officer of the 

10 Supreme Life Insurance Company, developing a line 

11 of cosmetics, owning three radio stations, starting a 

12 book publishing company, and a television produc13 tion company. 

14 (10) Invited by the United States Government 

15 to participate in several international missions, 

16 Johnson accompanied the Vice President of the 

17 United States on a mission to Russia and Poland in 

18 1959, and was appointed to be a Special Ambas19 sador to represent the United States at the inde20 pendence ceremonies in the Ivory Coast in 1961 and 

21 Kenya in 1963. 

22 (11) In 1966, Johnson was honored with the 

23 National Association for the Advancement of Col24 ored People’s Spingarn Medal for his contributions 

25 to improving race relations in the United States. 


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1 (12) In 1966, The Horatio Alger Association of 

2 Distinguished Americans awarded Johnson the Ho3 ratio Alger Award in recognition of his outstanding 

4 work as a dedicated community leader. 

5 (13) In 1972, Johnson was named Publisher of 

6 the Year by the Magazine Publishers Association, an 

7 industry association for consumer magazines. 

8 (14) In 1993, the Wall Street Journal awarded 

9 Johnson with the Dow Jones Entrepreneurial Excel10 lence Award. 

11 (15) In 1994, Johnson was awarded the Center 

12 for Communication’s Communication Award, on the 

13 occasion of Ebony’s 50th anniversary. 

14 (16) In 1996, President William Clinton award15 ed Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom 

16 which was followed in 1997 by Johnson’s induction 

17 into the Junior Achievement National Business Hall 

18 of Fame. 

19 (17) In 2001, Johnson was inducted into the 

20 Arkansas Business Hall of Fame. 

21 (18) Among his numerous awards and honors, 

22 Johnson has been awarded honorary doctorates by 

23 the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Harvard 

24 University, the University of Southern California, 


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1 Carnegie Mellon University, Eastern Michigan Uni2 versity, and Wayne State University. 

3 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

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

5 House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 

6 of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 

7 award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal 

8 of appropriate design to John H. Johnson in recognition 

9 of his outstanding work, leadership, and service. 

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

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

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

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

16 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

17 Under such regulations as the Secretary may pre18 scribe, the Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

19 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 2, at a price 

20 sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, including labor, 

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

22 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

23 The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national 

24 medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United 

25 States Code. 


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1 SEC. 5. 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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