I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5561 
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Barbara Rose Johns 
in recognition of her achievements and contributions to the Nation and 
civil rights. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 18, 2018 
Mr. GARRETT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Bar-
bara Rose Johns in recognition of her achievements and 
contributions to the Nation and civil rights. 
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 ‘‘Barbara Johns Con-
gressional Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Barbara Rose Johns was born in New York 
City, New York, on March 6, 1935, and moved to 
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Prince Edward County, Virginia, where schools were 
segregated among African American and White stu-
dents. 
(2) On April 23, 1951, at the age of 16, Johns 
led a student strike at Robert Russa Moton High 
School in Prince Edward, Virginia, to protest the 
substandard conditions which became the catalyst to 
bring attention to the inequality of the segregated 
school system. 
(3) After securing legal support from the Na-
tional Association for the Advancement of Colored 
People, these Moton students filed suit in Davis v. 
Prince Edward County, the largest and only student 
initiated case that was consolidated into Brown v. 
Board of Education, the landmark 1954 United 
States Supreme Court decision declaring segregation 
and the ‘‘separate but equal’’ principle in public 
schools to be unconstitutional. 
(4) Johns furthered her education at Spelman 
College and Drexel University. She continued her de-
sire for knowledge by eventually becoming a school 
librarian. Johns went on to marry Rev. William 
Powell and had five children. She passed away on 
September 25, 1991, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
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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 Congress, 
of a gold medal of appropriate design, in honor of Barbara 
Rose Johns in recognition of her achievements and con-
tributions to the Nation and the civil rights. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose 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. 
(c) TRANSFER OF MEDAL AFTER PRESENTATION.— 
Following the presentation of the gold medal in honor of 
Barbara Rose Johns pursuant to subsection (a), the gold 
medal shall be given to the Robert Russa Moton Museum. 
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 
under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 
materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead expenses, and 
the cost of the gold medal. 
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SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck under 
this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 
of title 31, United States Code. 
(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 
items. 
Æ 
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