[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 27, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2061-S2062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HIDDEN FIGURES CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged from 
further consideration of S. 590 and the Senate proceed to its immediate 
consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 590) 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.

  There being no objection, the committee was discharged, and the 
Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read a 
third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made 
and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 590) was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, 
was read the third time, and passed, as follows:

                                 S. 590

       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 ``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''), 
     Katherine 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) co-authored 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

[[Page S2062]]

     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. 
     Dorothy 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 the handmade calculations that 
     they made 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'').
       (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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