Reverend James Lawson, Jr., Congressional Gold Medal Act
Bill: H.R.8691 | Sponsor: Rep. Khanna, Ro (D-CA)
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues

Summary:
Reverend James Lawson, Jr. Congressional Gold Medal Act
This bill provides for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Reverend James Morris Lawson Jr. in recognition of his contributions to the advancement of civil rights through nonviolent methods in the United States.

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Reverend James Morris Lawson, 
 Jr., in recognition of his contributions to the United States through 
   the promotion of nonviolence during the Civil Rights movement and 
                                beyond.

    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 ``Reverend James Lawson, Jr., 
Congressional Gold Medal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Reverend James Morris Lawson, Jr. (``Rev. Lawson''), 
        was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, on September 22, 1928, to 
        Reverend James Morris Lawson, Sr., and Philane May Cover.
            (2) Rev. Lawson received his local preacher's license in 
        1947, the same year he graduated from high school.
            (3) While attending Baldwin-Wallace College, Rev. Lawson 
        joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the oldest pacifist 
        organization in the United States and an advocate of nonviolent 
        resistance to racism, as well as the Congress of Racial 
        Equality, where he was exposed to the nonviolent teachings of 
        world-renowned civil rights and spiritual leader Mohandas K. 
        Gandhi (``Gandhi'').
            (4) From 1953 to 1956, Rev. Lawson served as a Methodist 
        missionary at Hislop College in Nagpur, India, where he 
        continued his studies of satyagraha, Gandhi's philosophy of 
        nonviolent resistance, and met with associates and fellow 
        students of Gandhi.
            (5) Rev. Lawson was instrumental in bringing the message of 
        Gandhi to the United States.
            (6) Rev. Lawson viewed segregation in the United States as 
        ``much like the `untouchables' of India'' and was inspired by 
        the view of Gandhi that it could be through African Americans 
        that ``the unadulterated message of nonviolence will be 
        delivered to the world''.
            (7) In 1956, Rev. Lawson enrolled in the Oberlin School of 
        Theology in Ohio, where he first met Rev. Dr. Martin Luther 
        King, Jr. (``Dr. King''), who urged Rev. Lawson to move to the 
        South to spread his teachings on nonviolence, saying ``Don't 
        wait! Come now! You're badly needed. We don't have anyone like 
        you!''.
            (8) In 1957, Rev. Lawson answered the call of Dr. King, 
        moving to Nashville, Tennessee, and enrolling at Vanderbilt 
        Divinity School as the second African-American student in its 
        history.
            (9) Rev. Lawson opened a Fellowship of Reconciliation field 
        office, became the southern secretary for the organization, and 
        held seminars to train volunteers in Gandhian tactics of 
        nonviolent direct action.
            (10) Rev. Lawson was an advisor for the Little Rock Nine, 
        teaching the students, in the living room of Arkansas NAACP 
        Chair Daisy Bates, how to resist their opponents using the 
        ``superior weapons'' offered by nonviolence.
            (11) Rev. Lawson led the Nashville sit-in campaign of 1960 
        that successfully challenged ``Jim Crow'' and trained a new 
        generation of civil rights activists.
            (12) In 1960, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 
        led by Ella Baker, organized the Student Nonviolent 
        Coordinating Committee, with Rev. Lawson writing the statement 
        of purpose for the organization and delivering the keynote 
        speech at the organization's founding meeting in April of that 
        year.
            (13) Rev. Lawson, and the activists he trained, organized 
        many famous campaigns, including the Freedom Rides, Freedom 
        Schools, 1963 March on Washington, Mississippi Freedom Summer, 
        Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, 1963 Birmingham 
        Children's Crusade, 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, and 1966 
        Chicago Open Housing Movement.
            (14) In 1968, Rev. Lawson chaired the strike committee for 
        the Memphis Sanitation Workers, a campaign that advanced the 
        slogan ``I Am A Man'' and was the first successful effort to 
        organize African-American municipal workers in the South.
            (15) Dr. King lauded Rev. Lawson as the ``leading theorist 
        and strategist of nonviolence in the world'' and civil rights 
        leader Diane Nash stated that Rev. Lawson's ``impact was 
        fundamental and tremendous. I think that he, more than anyone 
        else really, is why the civil rights movement was nonviolent''.
            (16) In 1974, Rev. Lawson became pastor of Holman United 
        Methodist Church in Los Angeles, where he continued his 
        nonviolent advocacy for racial equality and social justice, 
        including through Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, 
        the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the American 
        Civil Liberties Union, Interfaith Communities United for Peace 
        and Justice, the National Committee for Worker Justice, and 
        many others.
            (17) Rev. Lawson received dozens of awards, honorary 
        degrees, and lectureships, including the National Civil Rights 
        Museum Freedom Award, Vanderbilt University's Walter R. Murray 
        Distinguished Alumnus Award, Harvard University's Henry Luce 
        Lectureship, and recognition for his leadership and lifetime 
        achievements from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and 
        the American Civil Liberties Union.
            (18) Rev. Lawson has played an invaluable role in the 
        progress of the United States due to his tireless work to 
        create what Dr. King called a ``beloved community'' where 
        people treat each other with respect and dignity and end all 
        forms of violence in favor of a politics of love.

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 Reverend James Morris Lawson, 
Jr., in recognition of his contributions to the United States.
    (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 ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with suitable 
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 
The design shall bear an image of, and inscription of the name of, the 
Reverend James Morris Lawson, Jr.

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 sections 5134 and 5136 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 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.
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