I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1348 
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 
FEBRUARY 25, 2021 
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, 
Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. BOURDEAUX, Mr. 
BOWMAN, Mr. BROWN, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CARSON, 
Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. COOPER, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. 
ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. 
JAYAPAL, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KILMER, Ms. 
KUSTER, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. 
LOWENTHAL, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MEEKS, 
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. NADLER, Mr. NEGUSE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
PAYNE, Mr. PETERS, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PORTER, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SAR-
BANES, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. 
STRICKLAND, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TITUS, 
Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. WELCH, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. 
YARMUTH, Ms. MENG, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. BASS, and Ms. CASTOR of 
Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House 
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Rid-
ers, collectively, in recognition of their unique contribu-
tion to Civil Rights, which inspired a revolutionary move-
ment for equality in interstate travel. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) In 1960, the Supreme Court ruled in Boyn-
ton v. Virginia that segregated bus and rail stations 
were unconstitutional. 
(2) The rigid system of racial segregation that 
prevailed in the United States during the 1960s did 
not permit a Black person to sit next to a White 
person on any bus traveling through interstate com-
merce and in most locations in the South. Bus sta-
tions had ‘‘Whites Only’’ waiting areas and Blacks 
were not permitted to wait in those areas despite the 
Supreme Court making it the law of the land. 
(3) The Freedom Riders, with the intent to end 
segregation in public transportation throughout the 
South, paved the way for full racial integration of 
the United States transit system. They overcame 
prejudice, discrimination, and violence. They sparked 
a movement that changed our Nation. 
(4) The Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.) 
selected thirteen volunteers for nonviolent response 
training to join in the Freedom Rides from Wash-
ington, DC, to New Orleans, LA. The Freedom Rid-
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ers used their strategies of nonviolence throughout 
the South to challenge the region’s Jim Crow laws 
directly and enforce the Supreme Court decision in 
Boynton. 
(5) On the morning of May 4, 1961, the Free-
dom Riders, comprised of seven Blacks and six 
Whites, boarded two buses, with Blacks and Whites 
seated together. Those thirteen Freedom Riders 
were: Genevieve Hughes Houghton, Charles Person, 
Hank Thomas, John Lewis, Edward Blankenheim, 
James Farmer, Walter Bergman, Frances Bergman, 
Joseph Perkins, Jimmy McDonald, Mae Francis 
Moultrie, Benjamin Elton Cox, and Albert Bigelow. 
Most segregated States considered even this level of 
integration a crime. At various stops along the way, 
the Freedom Riders would enter areas designated 
‘‘Whites’’ and ‘‘Colored’’ and would eat together at 
segregated lunch counters to defy local laws. 
(6) Initially, the Freedom Riders had encoun-
tered only minor clashes until a stop in South Caro-
lina. In Rock Hill, an angry mob severely beat John 
Lewis, late Congressman from the 5th District of 
Georgia, when he entered the bus station. Henry 
‘‘Hank’’ Thomas was jailed when he entered the bus 
station in Winnsboro. Authorities delivered him to a 
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waiting mob long after the station had closed that 
evening. A local Black minister rescued Thomas, en-
abling him to rejoin the group in Columbia. How-
ever, Lewis was so badly beaten he could not con-
tinue the Freedom Rides. 
(7) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil 
rights leaders met with the group in Atlanta to dis-
suade their continuance through the Deep South due 
to death threats. Despite these warnings, more Free-
dom Riders joined in Atlanta. Dedicated to their 
mission to end segregation in the South and trained 
in nonviolent movements, the Freedom Riders con-
tinued on their journey. 
(8) On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, the Free-
dom Riders were on two different buses. An angry 
mob in Anniston, Alabama, firebombed the first bus. 
When the Freedom Riders rushed out, still choking 
from the thick smoke of the burning bus, the wait-
ing angry mob beat them with lead pipes and base-
ball bats as the bus exploded. Ambulances refused to 
transport the Black Freedom Riders to the hospital. 
The mob beat the Freedom Riders on the second bus 
and forced them to sit in the back. As they jour-
neyed to Birmingham, another mob savagely beat 
the Freedom Riders. 
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