[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 450 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.450

                    One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

           Begun and held at the City of Washington on Monday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and twenty two


                                 An Act


 
 To award posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal to Emmett Till and 
                           Mamie Till-Mobley.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley 
Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    Congress finds the following:
        (1) The brutal lynching of Emmett Till and the subsequent 
    bravery and boldness of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, became a 
    catalyst for the civil rights movement.
        (2) On August 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was kidnapped, 
    beaten, and shot in Money, Mississippi, where he had traveled from 
    Chicago to stay with his great uncle, Moses Wright.
        (3) The corpse of Emmett Till was discovered 3 days later in 
    the Tallahatchie River and his murderers were acquitted despite 
    Moses Wright providing an eyewitness testimony that the men on 
    trial kidnapped Emmett Till.
        (4) Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, demonstrated 
    her love for her son and her courage and strength in suffering in 
    the days that followed as she brought the body of Emmett Till back 
    to Chicago for burial and demanded an open casket funeral, which 
    drew more than 50,000 attendees.
        (5) Mamie Till-Mobley further allowed a photograph to be taken 
    of Emmett Till in his casket, which was shown throughout the world.
        (6) The original casket of Emmett Till stands on display at the 
    National Museum of African American History and Culture as an 
    enduring reminder of the racial violence that is a part of the 
    history of the United States that the people of the United States 
    must confront.
        (7) The heroic actions of Mamie Till-Mobley in the midst of 
    evil, injustice, and grief became a catalyst for the civil rights 
    movement and continued in the years to come as she worked for 
    justice and honored the legacy of Emmett Till.
        (8) Mamie Till-Mobley went on to create the Emmett Till 
    Players, which was a significant national cultural contribution as 
    teenagers traveled throughout the country presenting Martin Luther 
    King Jr. speeches in the name of Emmett Till.
        (9) Mamie Till-Mobley also served as chair and co-founder of 
    the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, which had the dual mission of 
    reopening the murder of Emmett Till for a reinvestigation and a 
    passage into law of Federal legislation to ensure that other 
    racially motivated murders during the civil rights era were 
    investigated and, when possible, prosecuted.
        (10) The efforts of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign led to the 
    successful joint investigation by the State of Mississippi, the 
    Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Justice in 
    2004, the passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime 
    Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-344; 122 Stat. 3934), signed into law 
    by President George W. Bush, and the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil 
    Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-325; 130 
    Stat. 1965), signed into law by President Barack Obama.
        (11) The people of the United States honor the legacy of Emmett 
    Till and the incredible suffering and equally incredible courage, 
    resilience, and efforts of Mamie Till-Mobley that led to the civil 
    rights movement that began in the 1950s.
SEC. 3. 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 posthumous presentation, on behalf of 
Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration of 
Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley.
    (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. 
The design shall bear an image of, and inscriptions of the name of, 
``Emmett Till'' and ``Mamie Till-Mobley''.
    (c) Award of Medal.--
        (1) In general.--After the award of the gold medal referred to 
    in subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the National 
    Museum of African American History and Culture, where it shall be 
    displayed as appropriate.
        (2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
    National Museum of African American History and Culture should make 
    the gold medal received under paragraph (1) available for display 
    elsewhere, particularly at other locations and events associated 
    with Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs 
of the medals, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
    (a) National Medals.--Medals struck under 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. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.
    (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 costs of the medals struck 
under this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sales.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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