I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8856 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Riders, collectively, 

in recognition of their unique contribution to Civil Rights, which inspired 

a revolutionary movement for equality in interstate travel. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 3, 2020 

Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BERA, 

Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. CASTOR

of Florida, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. COOPER, Mr. DESAULNIER, 

Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. 

GABBARD, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. 

HAALAND, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. KILMER, Ms. KUSTER

of New Hampshire, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. 

SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Ms. MOORE, Mr. NADLER, Ms. 

NORTON, Mr. PETERS, Mr. POCAN, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 

Ms. SPEIER, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TITUS, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. 

YARMUTH, Mr. BEYER, and Mr. LYNCH) 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 award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Riders, collectively, in recognition of their unique contribution to Civil Rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement for equality in interstate travel. 


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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 The Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) In 1960, the Supreme Court ruled in Boyn6 ton v. Virginia that segregated bus and rail stations 

7 were unconstitutional. 

8 (2) The rigid system of racial segregation that 

9 prevailed in the United States during the 1960s did 

10 not permit a Black person to sit next to a White 

11 person on any bus traveling through interstate com12 merce and in most locations in the South. Bus sta13 tions had ‘‘Whites Only’’ waiting areas and Blacks 

14 were not permitted to wait in those areas despite the 

15 Supreme Court making it the law of the land. 

16 (3) The Freedom Riders, with the intent to end 

17 segregation in public transportation throughout the 

18 South, paved the way for full racial integration of 

19 the United States transit system. They overcame 

20 prejudice, discrimination, and violence. They sparked 

21 a movement that changed our Nation. 

22 (4) The Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.) 

23 selected thirteen volunteers for nonviolent response 

24 training to join in the Freedom Rides from Wash25 ington, DC, to New Orleans, LA. The Freedom RidVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:20 Dec 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8856.IH H8856

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1 ers used their strategies of nonviolence throughout 

2 the South to challenge the region’s Jim Crow laws 

3 directly and enforce the Supreme Court decision in 

4 Boynton. 

5 (5) On the morning of May 4, 1961, the Free6 dom Riders, comprised of seven Blacks and six 

7 Whites, boarded two buses, with Blacks and Whites 

8 seated together. Those thirteen Freedom Riders 

9 were: Genevieve Hughes Houghton, Charles Person, 

10 Hank Thomas, John Lewis, Edward Blankenheim, 

11 James Farmer, Walter Bergman, Frances Bergman, 

12 Joseph Perkins, Jimmy McDonald, Mae Francis 

13 Moultrie, Benjamin Elton Cox, and Albert Bigelow. 

14 Most segregated States considered even this level of 

15 integration a crime. At various stops along the way, 

16 the Freedom Riders would enter areas designated 

17 ‘‘Whites’’ and ‘‘Colored’’ and would eat together at 

18 segregated lunch counters to defy local laws. 

19 (6) Initially, the Freedom Riders had encoun20 tered only minor clashes until a stop in South Caro21 lina. In Rock Hill, an angry mob severely beat John 

22 Lewis, late Congressman from the 5th District of 

23 Georgia, when he entered the bus station. Henry 

24 ‘‘Hank’’ Thomas was jailed when he entered the bus 

25 station in Winnsboro. Authorities delivered him to a 


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1 waiting mob long after the station had closed that 

2 evening. A local Black minister rescued Thomas, en3 abling him to rejoin the group in Columbia. How4 ever, Lewis was so badly beaten he could not con5 tinue the Freedom Rides. 

6 (7) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil 

7 rights leaders met with the group in Atlanta to dis8 suade their continuance through the Deep South due 

9 to death threats. Despite these warnings, more Free10 dom Riders joined in Atlanta. Dedicated to their 

11 mission to end segregation in the South and trained 

12 in nonviolent movements, the Freedom Riders con13 tinued on their journey. 

14 (8) On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, the Free15 dom Riders were on two different buses. An angry 

16 mob in Anniston, Alabama, firebombed the first bus. 

17 When the Freedom Riders rushed out, still choking 

18 from the thick smoke of the burning bus, the wait19 ing angry mob beat them with lead pipes and base20 ball bats as the bus exploded. Ambulances refused to 

21 transport the Black Freedom Riders to the hospital. 

22 The mob beat the Freedom Riders on the second bus 

23 and forced them to sit in the back. As they jour24 neyed to Birmingham, another mob savagely beat 

25 the Freedom Riders. 


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1 (9) The Nashville (TN) Student Group, a local 

2 group of students who had been successful in deseg3 regating the lunch counters and movie theaters in 

4 Nashville (TN), vowed not to let these acts of vio5 lence curtail the goal of the Freedom Rides. They 

6 sent their members to continue the Freedom Rides 

7 and called out to other student groups to do the 

8 same. 

9 (10) As the violence grew, the Attorney General 

10 of the United States called in the National Guard 

11 and the U.S. Marshals to protect the Freedom Rid12 ers as they journeyed through Alabama. This protec13 tion was short-lived. The Federal authorities turned 

14 the Freedom Riders over to the local authorities in 

15 Mississippi who then arrested the Freedom Riders 

16 for disturbing the peace. 

17 (11) The government of Mississippi imprisoned 

18 many of the Freedom Riders in Parchman Prison 

19 known for its horrific conditions, such as subjecting 

20 the Freedom Riders to strip searches, work on chain 

21 gangs, and light shining in their cells 24 hours a 

22 day. Despite these conditions, the Freedom Riders 

23 refused bail because they were determined to spread 

24 the message of their nonviolent movement. 


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1 (12) Five months after the first Freedom Rid2 ers left on their historic ride, the Interstate Com3 merce Commission in conjunction with the U.S. At4 torney General Robert Kennedy issued a Federal 

5 order banning segregation at all interstate public fa6 cilities based upon ‘‘race, color or creed’’. The law 

7 became effective on November 1, 1961. 

8 (13) In 2011, Barack Obama, the President of 

9 the United States paid tribute to the Freedom Rid10 ers with a Presidential proclamation honoring the 

11 50th anniversary of the first Freedom Ride by brave 

12 Americans whose selfless act of courage helped pave 

13 the way for others to continue on the road to Civil 

14 Rights in America. 

15 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

16 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZATION.—The Speaker 

17 of the House of Representatives and the President pro 

18 tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrange19 ments for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of 

20 a gold medal of appropriate design to the Freedom Riders, 

21 collectively, in recognition of their unique contribution to 

22 Civil Rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement to 

23 equality in interstate travel. 

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

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


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1 Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec2 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

3 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec4 retary. 

5 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

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

7 gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 

8 shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 

9 it will be available for display as appropriate and 

10 available for research. 

11 (2) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense 

12 of the Congress that the Smithsonian Institution 

13 should make the gold medal awarded pursuant to 

14 this Act available for display elsewhere, particularly 

15 at appropriate locations associated with the Freedom 

16 Riders. 

17 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

18 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

19 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 

20 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

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

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

23 and the cost of the gold medal. 


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1 SEC. 4. NATIONAL MEDALS. 

2 Medals struck pursuant to this Act are national med3 als for the purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United 

4 States Code. 

Æ 


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