I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 812 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Simeon Booker in recognition 

of his achievements in the field of journalism, including reporting during 

the Civil Rights movement, as well as social and political commentary. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2017 

Mr. RYAN of Ohio (for himself, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, Ms. FUDGE, Mrs. 

BEATTY, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. COHEN, Ms. 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. 

RICHMOND, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. MOORE, Mr. CLAY, and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Simeon Booker 

in recognition of his achievements in the field of journalism, including reporting during the Civil Rights movement, as well as social and political commentary. 

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 finds the following: 

5 (1) Simeon Saunders Booker, Jr., was born on 

6 August 27, 1918, in Baltimore, Maryland, to 


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1 Reberta Waring and Simeon Saunders Booker, Sr., 

2 a YMCA director and minister. 

3 (2) After his family moved to Youngstown, 

4 Ohio, Booker became interested in journalism. 

5 (3) Booker promoted and wrote about Negro 

6 League baseball teams in Youngstown’s local news7 paper, The Vindicator. 

8 (4) In 1945, he moved back to Ohio to work for 

9 the Call and Post, where he became the first Afri10 can-American reporter to win a Newspaper Guild 

11 Award for his series on Cleveland, Ohio, slum hous12 ing, and a Willkie Award for reporting on racial in13 equities in the public schools. 

14 (5) In 1950, Booker was the recipient of the 

15 Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University to 

16 study journalism and develop his talent as a re17 porter. 

18 (6) After leaving Harvard in 1951, Booker be19 came the first full-time African-American reporter at 

20 The Washington Post. 

21 (7) In 1955, he helped to advance the civil 

22 rights movement with his famous coverage of the 

23 Emmett Till murder and trial, turning a common 

24 occurrence in the Deep South into a national trag25 edy that united the Black community. 


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1 (8) He remained at the forefront of the civil 

2 rights movement, reporting on the 1957 integration 

3 of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

4 (9) In 1961, he rode with the Congress on Ra5 cial Equality (CORE) Freedom Riders through the 

6 Deep South. 

7 (10) When the Freedom Riders were 

8 firebombed and beaten in Anniston, Alabama, in a 

9 Ku Klux Klan ambush, Booker arranged for their 

10 rescue by calling U.S. Attorney General Robert F. 

11 Kennedy. 

12 (11) In two wartime tours of Vietnam in the 

13 1960s, he interviewed Black troops on the front 

14 lines, and took enemy fire in a helicopter with 

15 United States Army General William Westmoreland 

16 for reports for Jet and Ebony magazines. 

17 (12) He has chronicled the most tumultuous pe18 riod in American history in two highly acclaimed 

19 books, Shocking the Conscience: A Reporter’s Ac20 count of the Civil Rights Movement (University 

21 Press of Mississippi, 2013), and Black Man’s Amer22 ica (Prentice Hall, 1964). 

23 (13) Often called the ‘‘dean of the black press’’, 

24 as chief of Ebony and Jet magazines’ Washington 

25 bureau, he interviewed presidents, senators and repVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:25 Feb 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H812.IH H812

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1 resentatives, members of the judiciary, cabinet offi2 cers, foreign ambassadors, and other important 

3 members of the Washington community. His col4 umn, ‘‘Ticker Tape U.S.A.’’ became a must-read for 

5 politicians and government officials. 

6 (14) He covered every Presidential election 

7 since the Eisenhower Administration in his fifty8 three years with Johnson Publishing until he retired 

9 in 2007. 

10 (15) In 1982, Booker received one of the most 

11 prestigious awards in journalism, the National Press 

12 Club’s Fourth Estate Award. 

13 (16) His honors and awards include: Nieman 

14 Fellowship, Harvard University 1950; elected presi15 dent of the Capitol Press Club, 1956; Fourth Estate 

16 Award, National Press Club, 1982; inducted into 

17 Hall of Fame, Washington Chapter of Sigma Delta 

18 Chi, and Hall of Fame of Washington, DC, 1984; 

19 Master Communicators Award, National Black 

20 Media Coalition, 1998; Phoenix Award, Congres21 sional Black Caucus Foundation, 2010; inducted 

22 into Hall of Fame, National Association of Black 

23 Journalists, 2013. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

2 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

3 the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tem4 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

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

6 medal of appropriate design, to Simeon Saunders Booker, 

7 Jr., in recognition of his achievements in the field of jour8 nalism, including reporting during the Civil Rights move9 ment, as well as social and political commentary. 

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

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

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

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

16 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

17 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

18 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 

19 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

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

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

22 and the cost of the gold medal. 

23 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

24 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu25 ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 

26 51 of title 31, United States Code. 


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

2 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

3 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

4 items. 

Æ 


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