[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 33 (Thursday, February 26, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1137-S1138]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     AWARDING 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

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I am excited about an event today. I had 
the honor--Senator Booker was on the floor earlier today. He is a 
cosponsor with me. We celebrate today the passage of a gold medal bill.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of Calendar No. 24, S. 527.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 527) 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.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be 
read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 527) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                 S. 527

       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.

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, this marks the 50th anniversary of the 
Voting Rights Act of 1965, and that historic event in Selma, AL, in 
March of 1965. So this bill, I believe, is a fitting honor that 
recognizes the courage and determination of the civil rights marches at 
Selma 50 years ago.
  The Selma-to-Montgomery march was a pivotal event in the drive to 
achieve the right to vote for all Americans, a right which was being 
systematically denied in that area and other places in the country. 
This action was historic. It dealt a major blow to deliberate 
discrimination. It produced a positive and lasting change for 
Americans.
  Those who stood tall for freedom on that fateful day deserve to be 
honored with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is a rare thing. We do 
not give it out often. But this is a very special occasion. I think 
these courageous individuals are greatly worthy of this high 
recognition from the Congress.

[[Page S1138]]

  I would note that two Alabama Congresswomen, new, younger Members of 
the House of Representatives, Martha Roby, a Republican, and Terri 
Sewell, a Democrat, introduced similar bills in the House of 
Representatives, which passed unanimously, 420 to 0. The Senate bill 
today that Senator Booker and I have moved out of the Senate banking 
committee, which my colleague from Alabama, Senator Shelby, chairs--it 
moved out of that committee unanimously. It now has been passed through 
the Senate.
  It was a very historic day. It marked an alteration in the history of 
America. It changed an unacceptable abuse of American rights, the right 
to vote, and it created a more positive world, country, and region. I 
grew up not too far from there. I was in high school or junior high 
school when that happened. I remember reading about it, thinking about 
it, but I do not think I fully understood the significance of it until 
time had gone by.
  I think this is a very fitting honor. I am pleased it has passed 
today. I am pleased for those who will receive the honor.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, I support S. 527, a bill to honor the 
foot soldiers of the historic civil rights march that led thousands 
from Selma to Montgomery in a peaceful protest for their right to vote.
  I am proud to cosponsor this bill, which would award the 
Congressional Gold Medal to those who gave their blood, sweat, and 
tears in the name of ending unfathomable injustices in our country. In 
honor of the 50th anniversary of the march, this award will recognize 
those whose groundbreaking efforts acted as a catalyst for the Voting 
Rights Act and made our Nation a more free and equitable place.
  Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, and the final 54-mile march from 
Selma to the Alabama state capitol in Montgomery were defining moments 
in the never-ending struggle for equal treatment under the law. On 
Bloody Sunday, peaceful marchers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Selma 
were met by State troopers and locals, resulting in a brutal conflict. 
Seventeen members of the march were hospitalized, and shameful images 
of protesters being beaten with nightsticks focused national and 
worldwide attention on the event. Following Turnaround Tuesday, in 
which 2,500 marchers held a silent prayer at the same bridge, and a 
court battle to stop police interference with the march, a final march 
took place with over 25,000 people flooding the State capitol.
  The Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday, and Montgomery marches created 
undeniable momentum for change, and the events left an indelible mark 
on our national consciousness. President Johnson presented the Voting 
Rights Act to Congress shortly after Turnaround Tuesday, and by August 
of the same year, the bill passed Congress.
  This bill would provide the plainly warranted recognition to these 
brave men and women. It would provide a Congressional Gold Medal to be 
displayed at the Selma Interpretive Center near the Edmund Pettus 
Bridge, a fitting tribute to the Foot Soldiers who made that fateful 
march.
  Our country was founded on the precept that the power of government 
is derived from the people it governs. The primary form of expressing 
opinions in our democracy is through voting. The marchers who risked 
everything were committed to ensuring our democracy was truly 
representative, leaving a lasting and positive effect on our Nation. I 
salute these Foot Soldiers today, and I urge the Senate to swiftly pass 
this important legislation.

                          ____________________