United States Colored Troops Congressional Gold Medal Act
Bill: H.R.6816 | Sponsor: Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes (D-DC)
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
United States Colored Troops Congressional Gold Medal Act
This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to the African Americans who served with Union forces in recognition of their bravery and outstanding service during the Civil War.

To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the African 
    Americans who served with Union forces during the Civil War, in 
         recognition of their bravery and outstanding service.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States Colored Troops 
Congressional Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Since the colonial era, African Americans have served 
        the United States in times of war.
            (2) During the Civil War, approximately 200,000 African-
        American men served in the Union Army and 19,000 African-
        American men served in the Union Navy.
            (3) During the Civil War, African-American women were not 
        allowed to formally enlist as soldiers or sailors, though they 
        served as nurses, cooks, spies, and scouts for the Union Army 
        and the Union Navy.
            (4) While African-American men served in the Navy since its 
        establishment, there was resistance to enlisting them to take 
        up arms for the Union Army at the start of the Civil War.
            (5) As the Civil War dragged on, President Lincoln broke 
        from the previous policy of his administration and determined 
        that liberating enslaved persons ``was a military necessity 
        absolutely essential for the salvation of the Union''.
            (6) The Act entitled ``An Act to suppress insurrection, to 
        punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the 
        property of rebels, and for other purposes'', approved July 17, 
        1862 (commonly known as the ``Second Confiscation Act'') (12 
        Stat. 589; chapter 195), and the Act of July 17, 1862 (commonly 
        known as the ``Military Act of 1862'') (12 Stat. 597; chapter 
        201), were the first official authorizations to employ African 
        Americans in the Union Army.
            (7) It was not until January 1, 1863, the effective date of 
        the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln, that 
        the Union Army was ordered to receive African-American men.
            (8) On May 22, 1863, the United States War Department 
        issued General Order Number 143, which established the Bureau 
        of Colored Troops for the recruitment and organization of 
        regiments of the Union Army composed of African-American men, 
        called the United States Colored Troops (referred to in this 
        section as ``USCT'').
            (9) Leaders such as Frederick Douglass encouraged African 
        Americans to enlist to advance the cause of citizenship. ``Once 
        let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, 
        `U.S.', let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his 
        shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on 
        [E]arth that can deny that he has earned the right to 
        citizenship.'', wrote Douglass.
            (10) African-American sailors constituted a significant 
        segment of the Union Navy, making up 20 percent of the total 
        enlisted force of the Navy.
            (11) Although there were rank restrictions on African 
        Americans in the Navy before the Civil War, this policy changed 
        after the establishment of the USCT, when the Union Navy 
        started to compete with the Union Army for enlistment of 
        African Americans.
            (12) Yet, in practice, most African Americans could not 
        advance beyond lowest ranks of ``boy'' and ``landsman.''
            (13) African-American soldiers and sailors served with 
        distinction, honor, and bravery amid racial discrimination and 
        adverse circumstances, including the risk of enslavement and 
        torture if captured.
            (14) Eighteen members of the USCT and 8 African-American 
        sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest honor in 
        the United States for bravery in combat.
            (15) For generations after the Civil War, the contributions 
        of African Americans in the Civil War were excluded from 
        historical memory.
            (16) Public Law No. 102-412 (106 Stat. 2104) authorized the 
        establishment of a memorial on Federal land in the District of 
        Columbia to honor African Americans who served with Union 
        forces during the Civil War.
            (17) This memorial, featuring a bronze statue of USCT 
        soldiers, an African-American sailor and family, is surrounded 
        by the Wall of Honor, which lists the names of the members of 
        the USCT.
            (18) The African American Civil War Museum is located in 
        the District of Columbia.
            (19) Patriots and heroes who rose in service to a Nation 
        that would not fully recognize them, the African Americans who 
        served the Union during the Civil War deserve our recognition 
        for their contributions to the grant of emancipation and 
        citizenship for nearly 4,000,000 enslaved people and the 
        preservation of the Union.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, 
of a gold medal of appropriate design to the African Americans who 
served with Union forces during the Civil War, collectively, in 
recognition of their bravery and outstanding service during the Civil 
War.
    (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 ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary.
    (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 the medal shall be available for 
        display as appropriate and available for research.
            (2) Sense of the congress.--It is the sense of Congress 
        that the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medal 
        received under paragraph (1) available for display elsewhere, 
        particularly at appropriate locations associated with the 
        United States Colored Troops.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to section 3 at a price sufficient to cover the 
cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.

    (a) National Medals.--The medals struck pursuant 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. 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 necessary to pay for the cost of the medals struck 
under this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals under section 4 shall be deposited in the United States 
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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