I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5896 

To award a congressional gold medal to the United Negro College Fund, 

Inc. and the institutions that make up its membership on the occasion 

of its 80th year of existence. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 6, 2023 

Ms. ADAMS (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. SEWELL, and Ms. 

LEE of California) introduced the following bill 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a congressional gold medal to the United Negro 

College Fund, Inc. and the institutions that make up 

its membership on the occasion of its 80th year of existence. 

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 ‘‘United Negro College 

5 Fund, Inc. Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Historically Black Colleges and Universities 

2 (referred to in this Act as ‘‘HBCUs’’) were estab3 lished during a time when African Americans seek4 ing to further their education was a dangerous un5 dertaking and illegal in many areas of the United 

6 States. 

7 (2) HBCUs initially educated the progeny of 

8 slaves, and the graduates of those institutions have 

9 been impactful as 80 percent of all African-Amer10 ican judges, 80 percent of all African-American doc11 tors and dentists, 50 percent of all African-American 

12 lawyers, 50 percent of all African-American profes13 sors, 50 percent of all African-American public 

14 school teachers, 40 percent of all African-American 

15 Members of Congress, and 40 percent of all African16 American engineers, while educating only 10 percent 

17 of all African-American students in higher edu18 cation. 

19 (3) According to a United Negro College Fund, 

20 Inc. (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘UNCF’’) study, 

21 the annual economic impact of HBCUs is over 

22 $14,800,000,000 a year, the institutions generate 

23 134,090 jobs for their local and regional economies, 

24 and 1 annual class of HBCU graduates constitutes 

25 over 50,000 graduates with a lifetime earnings of 


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1 $130,000,000,000, 56 percent higher than what they 

2 could have expected to earn without their HBCU 

3 college credentials. 

4 (4) The UNCF, established in 1944, is the pre5 miere fundraising and scholarship organization in 

6 assistance of HBCUs and African-American stu7 dents. 

8 (5) In its 80 years of existence, the UNCF has 

9 raised over 7,000,000,000 in private donations for 

10 HBCUs and African-American students. 

11 (6) On an annual basis, the UNCF awards 

12 $100,000,000 in scholarships to 10,000 students at 

13 hundreds of colleges and universities. 

14 (7) UNCF also provides grants to its members, 

15 which include: Miles College, Oakwood University, 

16 Stillman College, Talladega College, Tuskegee Uni17 versity, Philander Smith College, Bethune-Cookman 

18 University, Edward Waters University, Florida Me19 morial University, Clark Atlanta University, 

20 Interdominational Theological Center, Morehouse 

21 College, Paine College, Spelman College, Dillard 

22 University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Rust 

23 College, Tougaloo College, Bennett College, Johnson 

24 C. Smith University, Livingstone College, Saint Au25 gustine University, Shaw University, Wilberforce 


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1 University, Allen University, Benedict College, 

2 Claflin University, Morris College, Voorhees College, 

3 Fisk University, Lane College, Huston-Tillotson 

4 University, Jarvis Christian College, Texas College, 

5 Wiley College, and Virginia Union University. The 

6 fundraising efforts of the UNCF also positively im7 pact each HBCU and African-American student at 

8 many non-HBCU institutions. 

9 (8) The iconic motto of the UNCF, ‘‘A Mind Is 

10 a Terrible Thing To Waste’’, is commonly known 

11 throughout the lexicon in the United States and re12 minds us as a nation to strive for our individual full13 est ability and the highest national ideals through 

14 philanthropy and achievement. 

15 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

16 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

17 the House of Representatives and the President pro tem18 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

19 for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 

20 medal of appropriate design to the UNCF and the institu21 tions that make up its membership. 

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

23 presentation described in subsection (a), the Secretary of 

24 the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 


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1 shall strike the gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, 

2 and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 

3 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

4 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

5 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 

6 a price sufficient to cover the costs of the medals, includ7 ing labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead 

8 expenses. 

9 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

10 It is the sense of the Congress that the United States 

11 Mint should expedite production of the gold medal and du12 plicate medals under this Act, so that the UNCF and its 

13 member institutions can be recognized in a timely manner 

14 for its 80th anniversary. 

15 SEC. 6. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

16 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck under 

17 this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 

18 of title 31, United States Code. 

19 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

20 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

21 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

22 items. 


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1 SEC. 7. 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 under 

7 this Act. 

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

9 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

10 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

11 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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