I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1087
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the Afri-
can Americans who served with Union forces during the Civil War,
in recognition of their bravery and outstanding service.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY6, 2025
Ms. N
ORTON(for herself, Mr. AMO, Mr. BEYER, Mr. CARTERof Louisiana,
Mr. G
RIJALVA, Mrs. HAYES, and Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Serv-
ices, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal, collec-
tively, to the African Americans who served with Union
forces during the Civil War, in recognition of their brav-
ery and outstanding service.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Colored 4
Troops Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress finds the following: 2
(1) Since the colonial era, African Americans 3
have served the United States in times of war. 4
(2) During the Civil War, approximately 5
200,000 African-American men served in the Union 6
Army and 19,000 African-American men served in 7
the Union Navy. 8
(3) During the Civil War, African-American 9
women were not allowed to formally enlist as soldiers 10
or sailors, though they served as nurses, cooks, 11
spies, and scouts for the Union Army and the Union 12
Navy. 13
(4) While African-American men served in the 14
Navy since its establishment, there was resistance to 15
enlisting them to take up arms for the Union Army 16
at the start of the Civil War. 17
(5) As the Civil War dragged on, President 18
Lincoln broke from the previous policy of his admin-19
istration and determined that liberating enslaved 20
persons ‘‘was a military necessity absolutely essen-21
tial for the salvation of the Union’’. 22
(6) The Act entitled ‘‘An Act to suppress insur-23
rection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and 24
confiscate the property of rebels, and for other pur-25
poses’’, approved July 17, 1862 (commonly known 26
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as the ‘‘Second Confiscation Act’’) (12 Stat. 589; 1
chapter 195), and the Act of July 17, 1862 (com-2
monly known as the ‘‘Military Act of 1862’’) (12 3
Stat. 597; chapter 201), were the first official au-4
thorizations to employ African Americans in the 5
Union Army. 6
(7) It was not until January 1, 1863, the effec-7
tive date of the Emancipation Proclamation issued 8
by President Lincoln, that the Union Army was or-9
dered to receive African-American men. 10
(8) On May 22, 1863, the United States War 11
Department issued General Order Number 143, 12
which established the Bureau of Colored Troops for 13
the recruitment and organization of regiments of the 14
Union Army composed of African-American men, 15
called the United States Colored Troops (referred to 16
in this section as ‘‘USCT’’). 17
(9) Leaders such as Frederick Douglass encour-18
aged African Americans to enlist to advance the 19
cause of citizenship. ‘‘Once let the black man get 20
upon his person the brass letters, ‘U.S.’, let him get 21
an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoul-22
der and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on 23
[E]arth that can deny that he has earned the right 24
to citizenship.’’, wrote Douglass. 25
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(10) African-American sailors constituted a sig-1
nificant segment of the Union Navy, making up 20 2
percent of the total enlisted force of the Navy. 3
(11) Although there were rank restrictions on 4
African Americans in the Navy before the Civil War, 5
this policy changed after the establishment of the 6
USCT, when the Union Navy started to compete 7
with the Union Army for enlistment of African 8
Americans. 9
(12) Yet, in practice, most African Americans 10
could not advance beyond lowest ranks of ‘‘boy’’ and 11
‘‘landsman.’’ 12
(13) African-American soldiers and sailors 13
served with distinction, honor, and bravery amid ra-14
cial discrimination and adverse circumstances, in-15
cluding the risk of enslavement and torture if cap-16
tured. 17
(14) Eighteen members of the USCT and 8 Af-18
rican-American sailors were awarded the Medal of 19
Honor, the highest honor in the United States for 20
bravery in combat. 21
(15) For generations after the Civil War, the 22
contributions of African Americans in the Civil War 23
were excluded from historical memory. 24
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(16) Public Law No. 102–412 (106 Stat. 2104) 1
authorized the establishment of a memorial on Fed-2
eral land in the District of Columbia to honor Afri-3
can Americans who served with Union forces during 4
the Civil War. 5
(17) This memorial, featuring a bronze statue 6
of USCT soldiers, an African-American sailor and 7
family, is surrounded by the Wall of Honor, which 8
lists the names of the members of the USCT. 9
(18) The African American Civil War Museum 10
is located in the District of Columbia. 11
(19) Patriots and heroes who rose in service to 12
a Nation that would not fully recognize them, the 13
African Americans who served the Union during the 14
Civil War deserve our recognition for their contribu-15
tions to the grant of emancipation and citizenship 16
for nearly 4,000,000 enslaved people and the preser-17
vation of the Union. 18
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 19
(a) P
RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 20
the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-21
pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 22
for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, 23
of a gold medal of appropriate design to the African Amer-24
icans who served with Union forces during the Civil War, 25
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collectively, in recognition of their bravery and out-1
standing service during the Civil War. 2
(b) D
ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 3
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 4
Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Sec-5
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 6
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-7
retary. 8
(c) S
MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 10
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 11
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where 12
the medal shall be available for display as appro-13
priate and available for research. 14
(2) S
ENSE OF THE CONGRESS .—It is the sense 15
of Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 16
make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 17
available for display elsewhere, particularly at appro-18
priate locations associated with the United States 19
Colored Troops. 20
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 21
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 22
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 at 23
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 24
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 25
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SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 1
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-2
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 3
51 of title 31, United States Code. 4
(b) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of section 5
5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 6
under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 7
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 8
SALE. 9
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 10
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 11
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-12
essary to pay for the cost of the medals struck under this 13
Act. 14
(b) P
ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 15
sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 4 shall be 16
deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise 17
Fund. 18
Æ
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