[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 448 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 448

To authorize the President to posthumously award a gold medal on behalf 
 of Congress to Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich and Roy Peratrovich in 
  recognition of their outstanding and enduring contributions to the 
   civil rights and dignity of the Native peoples of Alaska and the 
                                Nation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 17, 2005

Ms. Murkowski (for herself, Mr. Stevens, Ms. Cantwell, and Mrs. Murray) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
            Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the President to posthumously award a gold medal on behalf 
 of Congress to Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich and Roy Peratrovich in 
  recognition of their outstanding and enduring contributions to the 
   civil rights and dignity of the Native peoples of Alaska and the 
                                Nation.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Elizabeth Wanamaker, a Tlingit Indian, was born on July 
        4, 1911, in Petersburg, Alaska.
            (2) Elizabeth married Roy Peratrovich, a Tlingit Indian 
        from Klawock, Alaska, on December 15, 1931.
            (3) In 1941, the couple moved to Juneau, Alaska.
            (4) Roy and Elizabeth Peratrovich discovered that they 
        could not purchase a home in the section of Juneau in which 
        they desired to live due to discrimination against Alaska 
        Natives.
            (5) In the early 1940s, there were reports that some 
        businesses in Southeast Alaska posted signs reading ``No 
        Natives Allowed''.
            (6) Roy, as Grand President of the Alaska Native 
        Brotherhood, and Elizabeth, as Grand President of the Alaska 
        Native Sisterhood, petitioned the Territorial Governor and the 
        Territorial Legislature to enact a law prohibiting 
        discrimination against Alaska Natives in public accommodations.
            (7) Rebuffed by the Territorial Legislature in 1943, they 
        again sought passage of an anti-discrimination law in 1945.
            (8) On February 8, 1945, as the Alaska Territorial Senate 
        debated the anti-discrimination law, Elizabeth, who was sitting 
        in the visitor's gallery of the Senate, was recognized to 
        present her views on the measure.
            (9) The eloquent and dignified testimony given by Elizabeth 
        that day is widely credited for passage of the anti-
        discrimination law.
            (10) On February 16, 1945, Territorial Governor Ernest 
        Gruening signed into law an act prohibiting discrimination 
        against all citizens within the jurisdiction of the Territory 
        of Alaska in access to public accommodations and imposing a 
        penalty on any person who shall display any printed or written 
        sign indicating discrimination on racial grounds of such full 
        and equal enjoyment.
            (11) 19 years before Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act 
        of 1964, and 18 years before the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther 
        King, Jr. delivered his ``I Have a Dream'' speech, one of 
        America's first antidiscrimination laws was enacted in the 
        Territory of Alaska, thanks to the efforts of Elizabeth and Roy 
        Peratrovich.
            (12) Since 1989, the State of Alaska has observed Elizabeth 
        Peratrovich Day on February 16 of each year, and a visitor's 
        gallery of the Alaska House of Representatives in the Alaska 
        State Capitol has been named for Elizabeth Peratrovich.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized. --The President is authorized, on 
behalf of the Congress, to posthumously award a gold medal of 
appropriate design to Elizabeth Wanamaker Peratrovich and Roy 
Peratrovich, in recognition of their outstanding and enduring 
contributions to the civil rights and dignity of the Native peoples of 
Alaska and the Nation.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the presentation 
referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (in this 
Act referred to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the 
Secretary.

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

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

SEC. 4. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

    The medals struck under this Act are national medals for purposes 
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such sum 
as may be appropriate to pay for the cost of the medals authorized 
under section 2.
    (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.
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