[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3287 Engrossed in House (EH)]


  1st Session

                               H. R. 3287

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 To award congressional gold medals posthumously on behalf of Reverend 
    Joseph A. DeLaine, Harry and Eliza Briggs, and Levi Pearson in 
  recognition of their contributions to the Nation as pioneers in the 
effort to desegregate public schools that led directly to the landmark 
desegregation case of Brown et al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka 
                                 et al.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3287

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To award congressional gold medals posthumously on behalf of Reverend 
    Joseph A. DeLaine, Harry and Eliza Briggs, and Levi Pearson in 
  recognition of their contributions to the Nation as pioneers in the 
effort to desegregate public schools that led directly to the landmark 
desegregation case of Brown et al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka 
                                 et al.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The Reverend Joseph Armstrong DeLaine, one of the true 
        heroes of the civil rights struggle, led a crusade to break 
        down barriers in education in South Carolina.
            (2) The efforts of Reverend DeLaine led to the 
        desegregation of public schools in the United States, but 
        forever scarred his own life.
            (3) In 1949, Joseph DeLaine, a minister and school 
        principal, organized African-American parents in Summerton, 
        South Carolina, to petition the school board for a bus for 
        black students, who had to walk up to 10 miles through corn and 
        cotton fields to attend a segregated school, while the white 
        children in the school district rode to and from school in nice 
        clean buses.
            (4) In 1950, these same parents, including Harry and Eliza 
        Briggs, sued to end public school segregation in Briggs et al. 
        v. Elliott et al., one of 5 cases that collectively led to the 
        landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown et al. v. Board 
        of Education of Topeka et al.
            (5) Because of his participation in the desegregation 
        movement, Reverend DeLaine was subjected to repeated acts of 
        domestic terror in which--
                    (A) he, along with 2 sisters and a niece, lost 
                their jobs;
                    (B) he fought off an angry mob;
                    (C) he received frequent death threats; and
                    (D) his church and his home were burned to the 
                ground.
            (6) In October 1955, after Reverend DeLaine relocated to 
        Florence County in South Carolina, shots were fired at the 
        DeLaine home, and because Reverend DeLaine fired back to mark 
        the car, he was charged with assault and battery with intent to 
        kill.
            (7) The shooting incident drove him from South Carolina to 
        Buffalo, New York, where he organized an African Methodist 
        Episcopal Church.
            (8) Believing that he would not be treated fairly by the 
        South Carolina judicial system if he returned to South 
        Carolina, Reverend DeLaine told the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation, ``I am not running from justice but injustice'', 
        and it was not until 2000 (26 years after his death and 45 
        years after the incident) that Reverend DeLaine was cleared of 
        all charges relating to the October 1955 incident.
            (9) Reverend DeLaine was a humble and fearless man who 
        showed the Nation that all people, regardless of the color of 
        their skin, deserve a first-rate education, a lesson from which 
        the Nation has benefited immeasurably.
            (10) Reverend DeLaine deserves rightful recognition for the 
        suffering that he and his family endured to teach the Nation 
        one of the great civil rights lessons of the last century.
            (11) Like the Reverend DeLaine and Harry and Eliza Briggs, 
        Levi Pearson was an integral participant in the struggle to 
        equalize the educational experiences of white and black 
        students in South Carolina.
            (12) Levi Pearson, with the assistance of Reverend Joseph 
        DeLaine, filed a lawsuit against the Clarendon County School 
        District to protest the inequitable treatment of black 
        children.
            (13) As a result of his lawsuit, Levi Pearson also suffered 
        from acts of domestic terror, such as the time gun shots were 
        fired into his home, as well as economic consequences: local 
        banks refused to provide him with credit to purchase farming 
        materials and area farmers refused to lend him equipment.
            (14) Although his case was ultimately dismissed on a 
        technicality, Levi Pearson's courage to stand up for equalized 
        treatment and funding for black students served as the catalyst 
        for further attempts to desegregate South Carolina schools, as 
        he continued to fight against segregation practices and became 
        President of Clarendon County Chapter of the NAACP.
            (15) When Levi Pearson's litigation efforts to obtain 
        equalized treatment and funding for black students were 
        stymied, Harry and Eliza Briggs, a service station attendant 
        and a maid, continued to fight for not only equalized treatment 
        of all children but desegregated schools as well.
            (16) As with Reverend DeLaine and Levi Pearson, the family 
        of Harry and Eliza Briggs suffered consequences for their 
        efforts: Harry and Eliza both were fired from their jobs and 
        forced to move their family to Florida.
            (17) Although they and their family suffered tremendously, 
        Harry and Eliza Briggs were also pioneers leading the effort to 
        desegregate America's public schools.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--In recognition of the contributions 
of Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, Harry and Eliza Briggs, and Levi Pearson 
to the Nation as pioneers in the effort to desegregate public schools 
that led directly to the landmark desegregation case of Brown et al. v. 
the Board of Education of Topeka et al., 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 the 
Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design, to Joseph De Laine, 
Jr., as next of kin of Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, and to the next of 
kin or other personal representative of Harry and Eliza Briggs and of 
Levi Pearson.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the awards referred 
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter in this 
Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike 3 gold medals with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary.

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medals struck pursuant to section 2, under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, and at a price sufficient to cover the costs 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medals.

SEC. 4. STATUS AS NATIONAL 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. 5. FUNDING.

    (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 
authorized by this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in the United States 
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 2003.

            Attest:

                                                                 Clerk.