108TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3287
AN ACT
To award congressional gold medals posthumously
on behalf of Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, Harry
and Eliza Briggs, and Levi Pearson in recogni-
tion of their contributions 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.
108TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3287
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.
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.
(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
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-
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.