[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 450 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 450

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 25, 2021

    Mr. Burr (for himself, Mr. Booker, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
   Blumenthal, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Casey, Ms. Collins, Mr. Coons, Mr. 
 Cornyn, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Feinstein, 
 Mr. Hawley, Ms. Hirono, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. 
   Lankford, Mr. Markey, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Murphy, Mr. 
  Portman, Mr. Reed, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Scott of 
 South Carolina, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Warnock, Ms. Warren, Mr. Whitehouse, 
  Mr. Wicker, and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was 
read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 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.
    (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.

    Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, 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.
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