I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1815 
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lena Horne in rec-
ognition of her achievements and contributions to American culture and 
the civil rights movement. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 10, 2011 
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida (for himself, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. FRANK of Massachu-
setts, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, 
Mr. RANGEL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. HINCHEY, 
Mr. MEEKS, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. 
JACKSON LEE of Texas, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. WEST, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, 
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. 
SERRANO, Mr. BACA, and Mrs. CHRISTENSEN) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Lena 
Horne in recognition of her achievements and contribu-
tions to American culture and the civil rights movement. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lena Horne Recogni-
tion Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born on 
June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. 
(2) At the age of 16, Lena Horne was hired as 
a dancer in the chorus of Harlem’s famous Cotton 
Club, where she was introduced to such legendary 
jazz performers as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, 
Count Basie, Ethel Waters, and Billie Holiday. 
(3) In 1940, Lena Horne became one of the 
first African-American women to perform with an 
all-White band when she toured with Charlie 
Barnet’s jazz band as its featured singer. 
(4) Lena Horne was discovered by a Metro- 
Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) talent scout and became the 
first Black artist to sign a long-term contract with 
a major studio. 
(5) Despite her extraordinary beauty and tal-
ent, Lena Horne was often limited to minor acting 
roles because of her race. 
(6) Scenes in which she did sing were cut out 
when they were sent to local distributors in the 
South and studio executives cast Ava Gardner as 
Julie in the film version of Show Boat instead of 
Lena Horne because they did not want it to star a 
Black actress. 
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(7) However, Lena Horne dazzled audiences 
and critics in a number of films, including Cabin in 
the Sky and Stormy Weather. 
(8) During World War II, Lena Horne toured 
extensively with the United Service Organizations 
(USO) on the West Coast and in the South in sup-
port of the troops and expressed outrage about the 
way Black soldiers were treated. 
(9) She refused to sing for segregated audiences 
or to groups in which German prisoners of war were 
seated in front of African-American servicemen. 
(10) During the period of McCarthyism in the 
1950s, Lena Horne was blacklisted as a communist 
for 7 years because of her civil rights activism and 
friendship with Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du Bois. 
(11) Although Lena Horne continued to face 
discrimination, her musical and acting career flour-
ished. 
(12) In 1957, Lena Horne recorded Lena 
Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria, which reached the 
Top 10 and became the best-selling album by a fe-
male singer in RCA Victor’s history. 
(13) Lena Horne rose to international stardom 
and toured the world, sharing the stage with such 
names as Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Billy 
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Eckstein, Vic Damone, and Harry Belafonte and 
also starred in musical and television specials with 
such giants as Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, and 
Frank Sinatra. 
(14) Lena Horne used her fame to become a 
powerful voice for civil rights and equality. 
(15) In 1963, she participated in the historic 
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, at 
which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his im-
mortal ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech. 
(16) Lena Horne also performed at rallies 
throughout the country for the National Council for 
Negro Women and worked with the National Asso-
ciation for the Advancement of Colored People 
(NAACP), of which she was a member since the age 
of 2, the National Council of Negro Women, the 
Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and the Urban League. 
(17) Through the end of the 20th century, 
Lena Horne continued to entertain large audiences 
of all ages and backgrounds and appeared on nu-
merous television shows, including Sesame Street, 
Sanford and Son, The Muppet Show, The Cosby 
Show, and A Different World. 
(18) In 1978, she was in the film adaption of 
The Wiz. 
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(19) In 1981, Ms. Horne captivated audiences 
with her one-woman Broadway show, Lena Horne: 
The Lady and Her Music, which enjoyed a 14- 
month run before going on tour and earned her a 
special Tony and two Grammy awards. 
(20) In 2002, 73 years after the Academy 
Awards were first awarded, Halle Berry became the 
first Black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress 
and recognized in her acceptance speech how Lena 
Horne paved the way for her and other Black ac-
tresses. 
(21) Lena Horne passed away in New York 
City on May 9, 2010, at the age of 92. 
(22) Lena Horne was an entertainer, activist, 
and mother who used her beauty, talent, and intel-
ligence to fight racial discrimination and injustice 
and rise to international stardom. 
(23) A symbol of elegance and grace, she enter-
tained people of all walks of life for over 60 years 
and broke barriers for future generations. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 
for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Con-
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gress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemo-
ration of Lena Horne in recognition of her achievements 
and contributions to American culture and the civil rights 
movement. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 
of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
retary. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 
under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 
and the cost of the gold medal. 
SEC. 5. STATUS OF 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. 
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SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 
SALE. 
(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 costs of the medals struck pursuant 
to this Act. 
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 
3 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 
Enterprise Fund. 
Æ 
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