II 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3287
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
NOVEMBER 19, 2003
Received 
AN ACT 
To award congressional gold medals posthumously on behalf 
of Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, Harry and Eliza Briggs, 
and Levi Pearson in recognition of their contributions 
to the Nation as pioneers in the effort to desegregate 
public schools that led directly to the landmark desegre-
gation case of Brown et al. v. the Board of Education 
of Topeka et al.
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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 as follows: 
(1) The Reverend Joseph Armstrong DeLaine, 
one of the true heroes of the civil rights struggle, led 
a crusade to break down barriers in education in 
South Carolina. 
(2) The efforts of Reverend DeLaine led to the 
desegregation of public schools in the United States, 
but forever scarred his own life. 
(3) In 1949, Joseph DeLaine, a minister and 
school principal, organized African-American parents 
in Summerton, South Carolina, to petition the school 
board for a bus for black students, who had to walk 
up to 10 miles through corn and cotton fields to at-
tend a segregated school, while the white children in 
the school district rode to and from school in nice 
clean buses. 
(4) In 1950, these same parents, including 
Harry and Eliza Briggs, sued to end public school 
segregation in Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al., one of 
5 cases that collectively led to the landmark 1954 
Supreme Court decision of Brown et al. v. Board of 
Education of Topeka et al.
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(5) Because of his participation in the desegre-
gation movement, Reverend DeLaine was subjected 
to repeated acts of domestic terror in which—
(A) he, along with 2 sisters and a niece, 
lost their jobs; 
(B) he fought off an angry mob; 
(C) he received frequent death threats; and 
(D) his church and his home were burned 
to the ground. 
(6) In October 1955, after Reverend DeLaine 
relocated to Florence County in South Carolina, 
shots were fired at the DeLaine home, and because 
Reverend DeLaine fired back to mark the car, he 
was charged with assault and battery with intent to 
kill. 
(7) The shooting incident drove him from South 
Carolina to Buffalo, New York, where he organized 
an African Methodist Episcopal Church. 
(8) Believing that he would not be treated fairly 
by the South Carolina judicial system if he returned 
to South Carolina, Reverend DeLaine told the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation, ‘‘I am not running 
from justice but injustice’’, and it was not until 
2000 (26 years after his death and 45 years after
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the incident) that Reverend DeLaine was cleared of 
all charges relating to the October 1955 incident. 
(9) Reverend DeLaine was a humble and fear-
less man who showed the Nation that all people, re-
gardless of the color of their skin, deserve a first-
rate education, a lesson from which the Nation has 
benefited immeasurably. 
(10) Reverend DeLaine deserves rightful rec-
ognition for the suffering that he and his family en-
dured to teach the Nation one of the great civil 
rights lessons of the last century. 
(11) Like the Reverend DeLaine and Harry 
and Eliza Briggs, Levi Pearson was an integral par-
ticipant in the struggle to equalize the educational 
experiences of white and black students in South 
Carolina. 
(12) Levi Pearson, with the assistance of Rev-
erend Joseph DeLaine, filed a lawsuit against the 
Clarendon County School District to protest the in-
equitable treatment of black children. 
(13) As a result of his lawsuit, Levi Pearson 
also suffered from acts of domestic terror, such as 
the time gun shots were fired into his home, as well 
as economic consequences: local banks refused to 
provide him with credit to purchase farming mate-
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rials and area farmers refused to lend him equip-
ment. 
(14) Although his case was ultimately dismissed 
on a technicality, Levi Pearson’s courage to stand 
up for equalized treatment and funding for black 
students served as the catalyst for further attempts 
to desegregate South Carolina schools, as he contin-
ued to fight against segregation practices and be-
came President of Clarendon County Chapter of the 
NAACP. 
(15) When Levi Pearson’s litigation efforts to 
obtain equalized treatment and funding for black 
students were stymied, Harry and Eliza Briggs, a 
service station attendant and a maid, continued to 
fight for not only equalized treatment of all children 
but desegregated schools as well. 
(16) As with Reverend DeLaine and Levi Pear-
son, the family of Harry and Eliza Briggs suffered 
consequences for their efforts: Harry and Eliza both 
were fired from their jobs and forced to move their 
family to Florida. 
(17) Although they and their family suffered 
tremendously, Harry and Eliza Briggs were also pio-
neers leading the effort to desegregate America’s 
public schools.
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SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—In recognition of 
the contributions of Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, Harry 
and Eliza Briggs, and Levi Pearson to the Nation as pio-
neers in the effort to desegregate public schools that led 
directly to the landmark desegregation case of Brown et 
al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka et al., the Speaker 
of the House of Representatives and the President Pro 
Tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrange-
ments for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of 
a gold medal of appropriate design, to Joseph De Laine, 
Jr., as next of kin of Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, and 
to the next of kin or other personal representative of 
Harry and Eliza Briggs and of Levi Pearson. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 
awards referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 
Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall strike 3 gold medals with suitable emblems, 
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
retary. 
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medals struck pursuant to section 2, 
under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, 
and at a price sufficient to cover the costs thereof, includ-
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ing labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead 
expenses, and the cost of the gold medals. 
SEC. 4. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS. 
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 
51 of title 31, United States Code. 
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 
SEC. 5. FUNDING. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-
essary to pay for the cost of the medals authorized by this 
Act. 
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 
sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be 
deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 
Fund.
Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 
2003. 
Attest: 
JEFF TRANDAHL, 
Clerk.