II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3420 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 16, 2021 

Mr. WARNOCK introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

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. 

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 ‘‘Freedom Riders Con5 gressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) In 1960, the Supreme Court ruled in Boyn2 ton v. Virginia that segregated bus and rail stations 

3 were unconstitutional. 

4 (2) The rigid system of racial segregation that 

5 prevailed in the United States during the 1960s did 

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

7 person on any bus traveling through interstate com8 merce and in most locations in the South. Bus sta9 tions had ‘‘Whites Only’’ waiting areas and Blacks 

10 were not permitted to wait in those areas despite the 

11 Supreme Court making it the law of the land. 

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

13 segregation in public transportation throughout the 

14 South, paved the way for full racial integration of 

15 the United States transit system. They overcame 

16 prejudice, discrimination, and violence. They sparked 

17 a movement that changed our Nation. 

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

19 selected thirteen volunteers for nonviolent response 

20 training to join in the Freedom Rides from Wash21 ington, DC, to New Orleans, LA. The Freedom Rid22 ers used their strategies of nonviolence throughout 

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

24 directly and enforce the Supreme Court decision in 

25 Boynton. 


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1 (5) On the morning of May 4, 1961, the Free2 dom Riders, comprised of seven Blacks and six 

3 Whites, boarded two buses, with Blacks and Whites 

4 seated together. Those thirteen Freedom Riders 

5 were: Genevieve Hughes Houghton, Charles Person, 

6 Hank Thomas, John Lewis, Edward Blankenheim, 

7 James Farmer, Walter Bergman, Frances Bergman, 

8 Joseph Perkins, Jimmy McDonald, Mae Francis 

9 Moultrie, Benjamin Elton Cox, and Albert Bigelow. 

10 Most segregated States considered even this level of 

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

12 the Freedom Riders would enter areas designated 

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

14 segregated lunch counters to defy local laws. 

15 (6) Initially, the Freedom Riders had encoun16 tered only minor clashes until a stop in South Caro17 lina. In Rock Hill, an angry mob severely beat John 

18 Lewis, late Congressman from the 5th District of 

19 Georgia, when he entered the bus station. Henry 

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

21 station in Winnsboro. Authorities delivered him to a 

22 waiting mob long after the station had closed that 

23 evening. A local Black minister rescued Thomas, en24 abling him to rejoin the group in Columbia. HowVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:31 Dec 21, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3420.IS S3420

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1 ever, Lewis was so badly beaten he could not con2 tinue the Freedom Rides. 

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

4 rights leaders met with the group in Atlanta to dis5 suade their continuance through the Deep South due 

6 to death threats. Despite these warnings, more Free7 dom Riders joined in Atlanta. Dedicated to their 

8 mission to end segregation in the South and trained 

9 in nonviolent movements, the Freedom Riders con10 tinued on their journey. 

11 (8) On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, the Free12 dom Riders were on two different buses. An angry 

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

14 When the Freedom Riders rushed out, still choking 

15 from the thick smoke of the burning bus, the wait16 ing angry mob beat them with lead pipes and base17 ball bats as the bus exploded. Ambulances refused to 

18 transport the Black Freedom Riders to the hospital. 

19 The mob beat the Freedom Riders on the second bus 

20 and forced them to sit in the back. As they jour21 neyed to Birmingham, another mob savagely beat 

22 the Freedom Riders. 

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

24 group of students who had been successful in deseg25 regating the lunch counters and movie theaters in 


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1 Nashville (TN), vowed not to let these acts of vio2 lence curtail the goal of the Freedom Rides. They 

3 sent their members to continue the Freedom Rides 

4 and called out to other student groups to do the 

5 same. 

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

7 of the United States called in the National Guard 

8 and the U.S. Marshals to protect the Freedom Rid9 ers as they journeyed through Alabama. This protec10 tion was short-lived. The Federal authorities turned 

11 the Freedom Riders over to the local authorities in 

12 Mississippi who then arrested the Freedom Riders 

13 for disturbing the peace. 

14 (11) The government of Mississippi imprisoned 

15 many of the Freedom Riders in Parchman Prison 

16 known for its horrific conditions, such as subjecting 

17 the Freedom Riders to strip searches, work on chain 

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

19 day. Despite these conditions, the Freedom Riders 

20 refused bail because they were determined to spread 

21 the message of their nonviolent movement. 

22 (12) Five months after the first Freedom Rid23 ers left on their historic ride, the Interstate Com24 merce Commission in conjunction with the U.S. At25 torney General Robert Kennedy issued a Federal 


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1 order banning segregation at all interstate public fa2 cilities based upon ‘‘race, color or creed’’. The law 

3 became effective on November 1, 1961. 

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

5 the United States paid tribute to the Freedom Rid6 ers with a Presidential proclamation honoring the 

7 50th anniversary of the first Freedom Ride by brave 

8 Americans whose selfless act of courage helped pave 

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

10 Rights in America. 

11 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

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 a gold 

16 medal of appropriate design to the Freedom Riders, collec17 tively, in recognition of their unique contribution to Civil 

18 Rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement to equal19 ity in interstate travel. 

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

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

22 Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec23 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 

24 devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec25 retary. 


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1 (c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 

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

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

4 shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 

5 the medal shall be available for display as appro6 priate and available for research. 

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

8 of Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 

9 make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 

10 available for display elsewhere, particularly at appro11 priate locations associated with the Freedom Riders. 

12 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

13 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

14 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 

15 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

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

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

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.—The amounts received 

9 from the sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under 

10 section 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint 

11 Public Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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