[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8600-S8601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNITION OF JOSEPH A. De LAINE

  Mr. TALENT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 167, S. 498.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 498) to authorize the President to posthumously 
     award a gold medal on behalf of Congress to Joseph A. De 
     Laine in recognition of his contributions to the Nation.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. TALENT. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee 
amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read three times, 
passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any 
statements relating thereto be printed in the Record with no 
intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The committee amendment was agreed to.
  The bill (S. 498), as amended, was read the third time and passed, as 
follows:

                                 S. 498

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

     SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) the Reverend Joseph Armstrong De Laine, one of the true 
     heroes of the civil rights struggle, led a crusade to break 
     down barriers in education in South Carolina;
       (2) the efforts of Reverend De Laine led to the 
     desegregation of public schools in the United States, but 
     forever scarred his own life;
       (3) in 1949, Joseph De Laine, a minister and principal, 
     organized African-American parents in Summerton, South 
     Carolina, to petition the school board for a bus for black 
     students, who had to walk up to 10 miles through corn and 
     cotton fields to attend a segregated school, while the white 
     children in the school district rode to and from school in 
     nice, clean buses;
       (4) in 1950, these same parents sued to end public school 
     segregation in Briggs v. Elliott, 1 of 5 cases that 
     collectively led to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision 
     of Brown v. Board of Education;
       (5) because of his participation in the desegregation 
     movement, Reverend De Laine was subjected to repeated acts of 
     domestic terror, in which--
       (A) he, along with 2 sisters and a niece, lost their jobs;
       (B) he fought off an angry mob;
       (C) he received frequent death threats; and
       (D) his church and his home were burned to the ground;
       (6) in October 1955, after Reverend De Laine relocated to 
     Florence County in South Carolina, shots were fired at the De 
     Laine home, and because Reverend De Laine fired back to mark 
     the car, he was charged with assault and battery with intent 
     to kill;
       (7) the shooting incident drove him from South Carolina to 
     Buffalo, New York, where he organized an African Methodist 
     Episcopal Church;
       (8) believing that he would not be treated fairly by the 
     South Carolina judicial system if he returned to South 
     Carolina, Reverend De Laine told the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation, ``I am not running from justice but 
     injustice'', and it was not until 2000 (26 years after his 
     death and 45 years after the incident) that Reverend De Laine 
     was cleared of all charges relating to the October 1955 
     incident;
       (9) Reverend De Laine was a humble and fearless man who 
     showed the Nation that all people, regardless of the color of 
     their skin, deserve a first-rate education, a lesson from 
     which the Nation has benefited immeasurably; and
       (10) Reverend De Laine deserves rightful recognition for 
     the suffering that he and his family endured to teach the 
     Nation one of the great civil rights lessons of the last 
     century.

     SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

       (a) Presentation Authorized.--The President is authorized, 
     on behalf of Congress, to award a gold medal of appropriate 
     design to Joseph De Laine, Jr. to honor his father, Reverend 
     Joseph Armstrong De Laine (posthumously), for his 
     contributions to the Nation.
       (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award 
     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.

     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, and at a price 
     sufficient to cover the costs 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 pursuant to this Act are national medals 
     for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.

     SEC. 5. FUNDING.

       (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to 
     be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise 
     Fund an amount not to exceed $30,000 to pay for the cost of 
     the medals authorized by this Act.
       (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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