[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 181 (Thursday, November 15, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7061-S7062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 4061. Mr. McCONNELL (for Mr. Coons) proposed an amendment to the
bill S. 3321, to award Congressional Gold Medals to Katherine Johnson
and Dr. Christine Darden, to posthumously award Congressional Gold
Medals to Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, and to award a
Congressional Gold Medal to honor all of the women who contributed to
the success of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration during
the Space Race; as follows:
Purpose: In the nature of a substitute.
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Hidden Figures Congressional
Gold Medal Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) In 1935, the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics (referred to in this section as ``NACA'') hired 5
women to serve as the first ``computer pool'' at the Langley
Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory where those women took on
work making calculations that male engineers had made
previously.
(2) During the 1940s, NACA began recruiting African
American women to work as computers and initially separated
those women from their White counterparts in a group known as
the ``West Area Computers'' where the women were restricted
to segregated dining and bathroom facilities.
(3) Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918, in White
Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
(4) In 1953, Katherine Johnson began her career in
aeronautics as a computer in the segregated West Area
Computing unit described in paragraph (2).
(5) As a member of the Flight Research Division, Katherine
Johnson analyzed data from flight tests. After NACA was
reformulated into the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (referred to in this section as ``NASA''),
Johnson--
(A) calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard's Freedom 7
mission in 1961, which was the first human spaceflight by an
individual from the United States;
(B) coauthored a report that provided the equations for
describing orbital spaceflight with a specified landing
point, which made her the first woman to be recognized as an
author of a report from the Flight Research Division;
(C) was asked to verify the calculations when electronic
computers at NASA were used to calculate the orbit for John
Glenn's Friendship 7 mission; and
(D) provided calculations for NASA throughout her career,
including for the Apollo missions.
(6) Katherine Johnson retired from NASA in 1986.
(7) Dr. Christine Darden was born on September 10, 1942, in
Monroe, North Carolina.
(8) In 1962, Dr. Christine Darden graduated from Hampton
Institute with a B.S. in Mathematics and a teaching
credential.
(9) Dr. Christine Darden attended Virginia State University
where she studied aerosol physics and earned an M.S. in
Applied Mathematics.
(10) Dr. Christine Darden began her career in aeronautics
in 1967 as a data analyst at NASA's Langley Research Center
(referred to in this section as ``Langley'') before being
promoted to aerospace engineer in 1973. Her work in this
position resulted in the production of low-boom sonic
effects, which revolutionized aerodynamics design.
(11) Dr. Christine Darden completed her education by
earning a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from George
Washington University in 1983.
(12) While working at NASA, Dr. Christine Darden--
(A) was appointed to be the leader of the Sonic Boom Team,
which worked on designs to minimize the effects of sonic
booms by testing wing and nose designs for supersonic
aircraft;
(B) wrote more than 50 articles on aeronautics design; and
(C) became the first African American to be promoted to a
position in the Senior Executive Service at Langley.
(13) Dorothy Vaughan was born on September 20, 1910, in
Kansas City, Missouri.
(14) Dorothy Vaughan began working for NACA in 1943.
Vaughan--
(A) started at NACA as a member of the West Area Computing
unit;
(B) was promoted to be the head of the West Area Computing
unit, becoming NACA's first African American supervisor, a
position that she held for 9 years; and
(C) became an expert programmer in FORTRAN as a member of
NASA's Analysis and Computation Division.
(15) Dorothy Vaughan retired from NASA in 1971 and died on
November 10, 2008.
(16) Mary Jackson was born on April 9, 1921, in Hampton,
Virginia.
(17) Mary Jackson started her career at NACA in 1951,
working as a computer as a member of the West Area Computing
unit.
(18) After petitioning the City of Hampton to allow her to
take graduate-level courses in math and physics at night at
the all-White Hampton High School, Mary Jackson was able to
complete the required training to become an engineer, making
her NASA's first female African American engineer.
(19) Mary Jackson--
(A) while at NACA and NASA--
(i) worked in the Theoretical Aerodynamics Branch of the
Subsonic-Transonic Aerodynamics Division at Langley where she
analyzed wind tunnel and aircraft flight data; and
(ii) published a dozen technical papers that focused on the
boundary layer of air around airplanes; and
(B) after 21 years working as an engineer at NASA,
transitioned to a new job as Langley's Federal Women's
Program Manager where she worked to improve the prospects of
NASA's female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists.
(20) Mary Jackson retired from NASA in 1985 and died in
2005.
(21) These 4 women, along with the other African American
women in NASA's West Area Computing unit, were integral to
the success of the early space program. The stories of these
4 women exemplify the experiences of hundreds of women who
worked as computers, mathematicians, and engineers at NACA
beginning in the 1930s and their handmade calculations played
an integral role in--
(A) aircraft testing during World War II;
(B) supersonic flight research;
(C) sending the Voyager probes to explore the solar system;
and
(D) the United States landing the first man on the lunar
surface.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS.
(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 5 gold medals of appropriate design as
follows:
(1) One gold medal to Katherine Johnson in recognition of
her service to the United States as a mathematician.
(2) One gold medal to Dr. Christine Darden for her service
to the United States as an aeronautical engineer.
(3) In recognition of their service to the United States
during the Space Race--
(A) 1 gold medal commemorating the life of Dorothy Vaughan;
and
(B) 1 gold medal commemorating the life of Mary Jackson.
(4) One gold medal in recognition of all women who served
as computers, mathematicians, and engineers at the National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration between the 1930s and
the 1970s (referred to in this section as ``recognized
women'').
[[Page S7062]]
(b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the awards
under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred
to in this Act as the ``Secretary'') shall strike each gold
medal described in that subsection with suitable emblems,
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
(c) Transfer of Certain Medals After Presentation.--
(1) Smithsonian institution.--
(A) In general.--After the award of the gold medal
commemorating the life of Dorothy Vaughan under subsection
(a)(3)(A) and the award of the gold medal in recognition of
recognized women under subsection (a)(4), those medals shall
be given to the Smithsonian Institution where the medals
shall be--
(i) available for display, as appropriate; and
(ii) made available for research.
(B) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medals
received under subparagraph (A) available for--
(i) display, particularly at the National Museum of African
American History and Culture; or
(ii) loan, as appropriate, so that the medals may be
displayed elsewhere.
(2) Transfer to family.--After the award of the gold medal
in honor of Mary Jackson under subsection (a)(3)(B), the
medal shall be given to her granddaughter, Wanda Jackson.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
Under regulations that the Secretary may promulgate, the
Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the
gold medals struck under this Act, at a price sufficient to
cover the cost of the medals, including labor, materials,
dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--The 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 sections 5134 and
5136 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 Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of
duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be
deposited into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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