[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 431 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.431

                     One Hundred Fourteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
           the sixth day of January, two thousand and fifteen


                                 An Act


 
      To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Foot Soldiers who 
participated in Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, or the final Selma to 
   Montgomery Voting Rights March in March of 1965, which served as a 
               catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

    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 the following:
        (1) March 7, 2015, will mark 50 years since the brave Foot 
    Soldiers of the Voting Rights Movement first attempted to march 
    from Selma to Montgomery on ``Bloody Sunday'' in protest against 
    the denial of their right to vote, and were brutally assaulted by 
    Alabama state troopers.
        (2) Beginning in 1964, members of the Student Nonviolent 
    Coordinating Committee attempted to register African-Americans to 
    vote throughout the state of Alabama.
        (3) These efforts were designed to ensure that every American 
    citizen would be able to exercise their constitutional right to 
    vote and have their voices heard.
        (4) By December of 1964, many of these efforts remained 
    unsuccessful. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., working with leaders 
    from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Southern 
    Christian Leadership Conference, began to organize protests 
    throughout Alabama.
        (5) On March 7, 1965, over 500 voting rights marchers known as 
    ``Foot Soldiers'' gathered on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, 
    Alabama in peaceful protest of the denial of their most sacred and 
    constitutionally protected right--the right to vote.
        (6) Led by John Lewis of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating 
    Committee and Rev. Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian 
    Leadership Conference, these Foot Soldiers began the march towards 
    the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.
        (7) As the Foot Soldiers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they 
    were confronted by a wall of Alabama state troopers who brutally 
    attacked and beat them.
        (8) Americans across the country witnessed this tragic turn of 
    events as news stations broadcasted the brutality on a day that 
    would be later known as ``Bloody Sunday''.
        (9) Two days later on Tuesday, March 9, 1965, nearly 2,500 Foot 
    Soldiers led by Dr. Martin Luther King risked their lives once more 
    and attempted a second peaceful march starting at the Edmund Pettus 
    Bridge. This second attempted march was later known as ``Turnaround 
    Tuesday''.
        (10) Fearing for the safety of these Foot Soldiers who received 
    no protection from federal or state authorities during this second 
    march, Dr. King led the marchers to the base of the Edmund Pettus 
    Bridge and stopped. Dr. King kneeled and offered a prayer of 
    solidarity and walked back to the church.
        (11) President Lyndon B. Johnson, inspired by the bravery and 
    determination of these Foot Soldiers and the atrocities they 
    endured, announced his plan for a voting rights bill aimed at 
    securing the precious right to vote for all citizens during an 
    address to Congress on March 15, 1965.
        (12) On March 17, 1965, one week after ``Turnaround Tuesday'', 
    U.S. District Judge Frank M. Johnson ruled the Foot Soldiers had a 
    First Amendment right to petition the government through peaceful 
    protest, and ordered federal agents to provide full protection to 
    the Foot Soldiers during the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights 
    March.
        (13) Judge Johnson's decision overturned Alabama Governor 
    George Wallace's prohibition on the protest due to public safety 
    concerns.
        (14) On March 21, 1965, under the court order, the U.S. Army, 
    the federalized Alabama National Guard, and countless federal 
    agents and marshals escorted nearly 8,000 Foot Soldiers from the 
    start of their heroic journey in Selma, Alabama to their safe 
    arrival on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol Building on March 
    25, 1965.
        (15) The extraordinary bravery and sacrifice these Foot 
    Soldiers displayed in pursuit of a peaceful march from Selma to 
    Montgomery brought national attention to the struggle for equal 
    voting rights, and served as the catalyst for Congress to pass the 
    Voting Rights Act of 1965, which President Johnson signed into law 
    on August 6, 1965.
        (16) To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights 
    Movement and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it is 
    befitting that Congress bestow the highest civilian honor, the 
    Congressional Gold Medal, in 2015, to the Foot Soldiers who 
    participated in Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday or the final 
    Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March during March of 1965, which 
    served as a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
SEC. 2. 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 the Foot Soldiers who 
participated in Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, or the final Selma 
to Montgomery Voting Rights March during March of 1965, which served as 
a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
    (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.
    (c) Award of Medal.--Following the award of the gold medal 
described in subsection (a), the medal shall be given to the Selma 
Interpretative Center in Selma, Alabama, where it shall be available 
for display or temporary loan to be displayed elsewhere, as 
appropriate.
SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to section 2 under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, 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 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.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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