Reverend James Lawson, Jr. 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 presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal to Reverend James Morris Lawson, Jr. in recognition of his contributions to the United States.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8730 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8730
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 5, 2020
Mr. Khanna (for himself, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Clyburn, Ms. Bass, Mr. Cleaver,
and Mr. Riggleman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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.
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 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.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
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