Barbara Johns Congressional Gold Medal Act

This bill directs the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate to arrange for the posthumous award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Barbara Rose Johns in recognition of her achievements and contributions to the nation and civil rights.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5561 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 Barbara Rose Johns 
in recognition of her achievements and contributions to the Nation and 
                             civil rights.

    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 ``Barbara Johns Congressional 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 Prince Edward County, Virginia, 
        where schools were segregated among African American and White 
        students.
            (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 National 
        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 desire 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.

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 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 contributions 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 ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the 
Secretary.
    (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.

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.
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