Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1377 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1377
5	5	To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans, and for other
6	6	purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY14, 2025
9	9	Mr. D
10	10	AVISof North Carolina (for himself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. JOHNSONof Geor-
11	11	gia, Mr. L
12	12	YNCH, and Ms. ROSS) introduced the following bill; which was
13	13	referred to the Committee on Financial Services
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans,
16	16	and for other purposes.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sarah Keys Evans 4
21	21	Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
23	23	Congress finds the following: 7
24	24	(1) Sarah Keys Evans was born on April 18, 8
25	25	1929, in Washington, North Carolina, in a town 9
26	26	called Keysville, the second oldest of seven children. 10
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30	30	(2) Sarah Keys, an Army veteran and civil 1
31	31	rights pioneer, is a living example that change is 2
32	32	possible if we are willing to stand up and fight for 3
33	33	what is right. 4
34	34	(3) Before the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks and 5
35	35	the Montgomery bus boycott that followed, there was 6
36	36	Sarah Keys Evans. Her refusal to give up her seat 7
37	37	on an interstate charter bus prompted the landmark 8
38	38	court case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, 9
39	39	in which the Interstate Commerce Commission 10
40	40	(ICC) outlawed the segregation of Black passengers 11
41	41	in buses traveling across State lines. 12
42	42	(4) On August 1, 1952, Women’s Army Corps, 13
43	43	Private First Class Sarah Keys, boarded a bus in 14
44	44	Trenton, New Jersey, for her first home visit to 15
45	45	Washington, North Carolina, since joining the mili-16
46	46	tary. The bus she boarded would take her directly to 17
47	47	her North Carolina destination without any required 18
48	48	bus changes. 19
49	49	(5) Once the bus reached Roanoke Rapids, 20
50	50	North Carolina, a new driver took over the bus and 21
51	51	as was custom, went through the bus and rechecked 22
52	52	tickets. When he came to Ms. Keys, he told her to 23
53	53	give up her seat to a White Marine who boarded the 24
54	54	bus in Roanoke Rapids and move to the back of the 25
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57	57	•HR 1377 IH
58	58	bus. Tired from her long journey and understanding 1
59	59	her rights, Sarah refused. 2
60	60	(6) Six years prior, in 1946, there was a Su-3
61	61	preme Court decision (Morgan v. Virginia) that said 4
62	62	it was illegal to practice passenger segregation on 5
63	63	interstate buses, but local jurisdictions found ways 6
64	64	to circumvent Federal laws. 7
65	65	(7) Frustrated with her persistence, the bus 8
66	66	driver announced that all passengers would be mov-9
67	67	ing to a different bus, but ‘‘that woman’’ who re-10
68	68	fused to change her seat, referring to Ms. Keys, 11
69	69	would not be allowed to board the new bus and 12
70	70	would not be allowed to continue the trip. 13
71	71	(8) Shortly thereafter, two police officers ar-14
72	72	rived at the bus terminal, took Sarah by the arms 15
73	73	into a patrol car and drove her to the Roanoke Rap-16
74	74	ids police station. Because she refused to be sub-17
75	75	jected to unjust discrimination and prejudice, she 18
76	76	was forced to stay in jail overnight and was fined 19
77	77	$25.00 before her release. 20
78	78	(9) Once Sarah arrived home and informed her 21
79	79	family of the injustice she endured, her father en-22
80	80	couraged her to seek legal action. 23
81	81	(10) The National Association for the Advance-24
82	82	ment of Colored People (NAACP) referred the fam-25
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86	86	ily to attorney Dovey Johnson Roundtree, a Captain 1
87	87	in the Women’s Army Corps, who brought her case 2
88	88	before the ICC. The ICC meeting in the District of 3
89	89	Columbia took place on May 12, 1954. It was de-4
90	90	cided by only one member of the ICC. 5
91	91	(11) New York Congressman Adam Clayton 6
92	92	Powell, Jr., agreed it was not fair that the other 10 7
93	93	members of the ICC were not involved in the deci-8
94	94	sion. Congressman Powell helped persuade the ICC 9
95	95	to reconsider its decision. 10
96	96	(12) After the Supreme Court decision on 11
97	97	Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954, and 12
98	98	with the support of Department of Justice Attorney 13
99	99	General Herbert Brownell, the ICC reached a new 14
100	100	decision. A majority of the ICC members had de-15
101	101	cided that it was wrong for people on State-to-State 16
102	102	trips to be forced to sit in certain seats on a bus be-17
103	103	cause of the color of their skin and that it was 18
104	104	against the law. 19
105	105	(13) The ICC decision on November 25, 1955, 20
106	106	went further than the Supreme Court’s ruling in 21
107	107	1946 which had outlawed only unfair laws that a 22
108	108	State might make, not rules that a bus company 23
109	109	might make. 24
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113	113	(14) In Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Com-1
114	114	pany, the ICC ruled in favor of Keys Evans. In their 2
115	115	decision, the Commission found the Interstate Com-3
116	116	merce Act forbids segregation as the practice sub-4
117	117	jects passengers to ‘‘unjust discrimination, and 5
118	118	undue and unreasonable prejudice and disadvantage, 6
119	119	in violation of section 216(d) of the Interstate Com-7
120	120	merce Act and is therefore unlawful’’. 8
121	121	SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 9
122	122	(a) P
123	123	RESENTATIONAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 10
124	124	the House of Representatives and the President pro tem-11
125	125	pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 12
126	126	for the presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold 13
127	127	medal of appropriate design to Mrs. Sarah Keys Evans, 14
128	128	in recognition of her achievements. 15
129	129	(b) D
130	130	ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For purposes of the 16
131	131	presentation under subsection (a), the Secretary of the 17
132	132	Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 18
133	133	strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 19
134	134	inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary. 20
135	135	SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 21
136	136	(a) S
137	137	TRIKING OFDUPLICATES.—Under such regula-22
138	138	tions as the Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may 23
139	139	strike duplicates in bronze of the gold medal struck under 24
140	140	section 3. 25
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144	144	(b) SELLING OFDUPLICATES.—The Secretary may 1
145	145	sell such duplicates under subsection (a) at a price suffi-2
146	146	cient to cover the costs of such duplicates, including labor, 3
147	147	materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 4
148	148	SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 5
149	149	(a) N
150	150	ATIONALMEDALS.—Medals struck under this 6
151	151	Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 7
152	152	31, United States Code. 8
153	153	(b) N
154	154	UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of section 9
155	155	5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals struck 10
156	156	under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic items. 11
157	157	Æ
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