I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 945 
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 4, 2025 
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia (for himself, Ms. ANSARI, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. 
BEYER, Ms. BROWN, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. 
CARSON, Ms. CASTOR
of Florida, Mr. CASTRO
of Texas, Mrs. 
CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. 
CLEAVER, Mr. COSTA, Mr. CRAWFORD, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. DAVIDS of 
Kansas, Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. 
FIELDS, Mr. FROST, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina, 
Ms. NORTON, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACOBS, Ms. KAMLAGER- 
DOVE, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mrs. 
MCBATH, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr. MEEKS, 
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, Mr. NEAL, Ms. OCASIO-COR-
TEZ, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mrs. RAMIREZ, Ms. SCHOLTEN, Mr. DAVID SCOTT 
of Georgia, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. 
SWALWELL, Mr. THANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TLAIB, 
Mr. TONKO, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. TURNER of Texas, Ms. WIL-
LIAMS of Georgia, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mrs. SYKES, and Mr. VARGAS) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Fi-
nancial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House Administra-
tion, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Freedom Rid-
ers, collectively, in recognition of their unique contribu-
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tion to Civil Rights, which inspired a revolutionary move-
ment for equality in interstate travel. 
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-
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ington, DC, to New Orleans, LA. The Freedom Rid-
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 
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station in Winnsboro. Authorities delivered him to a 
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-
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neyed to Birmingham, another mob savagely beat 
the Freedom Riders. 
(9) The Nashville (TN) Student Group, a local 
group of students who had been successful in deseg-
regating the lunch counters and movie theaters in 
Nashville (TN), vowed not to let these acts of vio-
lence curtail the goal of the Freedom Rides. They 
sent their members to continue the Freedom Rides 
and called out to other student groups to do the 
same. 
(10) As the violence grew, the Attorney General 
of the United States called in the National Guard 
and the U.S. Marshals to protect the Freedom Rid-
ers as they journeyed through Alabama. This protec-
tion was short lived. The Federal authorities turned 
the Freedom Riders over to the local authorities in 
Mississippi who then arrested the Freedom Riders 
for disturbing the peace. 
(11) The Government of Mississippi imprisoned 
many of the Freedom Riders in Parchman Prison 
known for its horrific conditions, such as subjecting 
the Freedom Riders to strip searches, work on chain 
gangs, and light shining in their cells 24 hours a 
day. Despite these conditions, the Freedom Riders 
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refused bail because they were determined to spread 
the message of their nonviolent movement. 
(12) Five months after the first Freedom Rid-
ers left on their historic ride, the Interstate Com-
merce Commission in conjunction with the U.S. At-
torney General Robert Kennedy issued a Federal 
order banning segregation at all interstate public fa-
cilities based upon ‘‘race, color or creed’’. The law 
became effective on November 1, 1961. 
(13) In 2011, Barack Obama, the President of 
the United States, paid tribute to the Freedom Rid-
ers with a Presidential proclamation honoring the 
50th anniversary of the first Freedom Ride by brave 
Americans whose selfless act of courage helped pave 
the way for others to continue on the road to Civil 
Rights in America. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZATION.—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 the Freedom Riders, 
collectively, in recognition of their unique contribution to 
Civil Rights, which inspired a revolutionary movement to 
equality in interstate travel. 
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(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the 
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 
Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-
retary. 
(c) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of the 
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 
it will be available for display as appropriate and 
available for research. 
(2) SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.—It is the sense 
of the Congress that the Smithsonian Institution 
should make the gold medal awarded pursuant to 
this Act available for display elsewhere, particularly 
at appropriate locations associated with the Freedom 
Riders. 
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2, at 
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 
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SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 
(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck pursuant to 
this Act are national medals for the 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. 
SEC. 5. 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 under 
this Act. 
(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 
4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 
Enterprise Fund. 
Æ 
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