[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2886 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2886

  To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to 
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner to commemorate the 
lives they lost 50 years ago in an effort to bring justice and equality 
           to Americans in Mississippi during Freedom Summer.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 18, 2014

 Mr. Wicker (for himself, Mrs. Gillibrand, and Mr. Cochran) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                 on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to 
James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner to commemorate the 
lives they lost 50 years ago in an effort to bring justice and equality 
           to Americans in Mississippi during Freedom Summer.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) June 21, 2014, marks 50 years since the lives of James 
        Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were brutally 
        taken on the basis of racism and hatred.
            (2) Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were assisting Congress 
        of Racial Equality in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 
        1964, wherein they risked their lives leading voting 
        registration efforts for people who were denied the right to 
        vote.
            (3) Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner were imprisoned in 
        Neshoba County, Mississippi, without due process and released 
        into the dead of the night into the hands of Klansmen.
            (4) The disappearance of these devoted civil rights 
        activists captured national attention and led to an 
        investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
            (5) Following a 44-day search by Federal agents, the grim 
        remains of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner 
        were discovered in an earthen dam.
            (6) This tragedy galvanized momentum for the Civil Rights 
        Movement and helped to secure the passage of the Civil Rights 
        Act of 1964 and later the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and led to 
        the first permanent Federal Bureau of Investigation field 
        office in the State of Mississippi.
            (7) Justice was delayed 41 years, to the day, for these 
        three brave men and their families until a Neshoba County jury 
        found 1 of the 18 men originally charged in the case guilty on 
        three counts of murder.
            (8) These three valiant activists are representative of 
        countless individuals who lost their lives on a quest for 
        justice and equality, including Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles 
        Eddie More whose bodies were also found during the massive 
        search for Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.
            (9) Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner's legacy of advocacy and 
        unyielding resolve for justice in the face of peril is one that 
        continues to be embodied in young adults across this great 
        country.
            (10) It is befitting that Congress bestow the highest 
        civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, in 2014 to James 
        Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, posthumously in 
        recognition of the 50th commemoration of their kidnapping and 
        subsequent murders.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Award 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, collectively, to James Chaney, Andrew 
Goodman, and Michael Schwerner to commemorate the lives they lost 50 
years ago in an effort to bring justice and equality to Americans in 
Mississippi during Freedom Summer.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred 
to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter 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.
    (c) Award of Medal.--Following the award of the gold medal 
described in subsection (a), the medal shall be given to Tougaloo 
College in Tougaloo, Mississippi, where it shall be available for 
display or temporary loan to be displayed elsewhere, as appropriate.

SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 
bronze of the gold medal struck under section 2, at a price sufficient 
to cover the costs of the medal, including labor, materials, dies, use 
of machinery, and overhead expenses.
    (b) National Medals.--The medals struck under this Act are national 
medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
    (c) 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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