[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3287 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.3287

                       One Hundred Eighth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
           the seventh day of January, two thousand and three


                                 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.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.