I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1817
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, in
recognition of his pioneering work in collecting and preserving the history
and culture of the African diaspora.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH3, 2025
Ms. V
ELA´ZQUEZ(for herself, Mr. SOTO, Mr. TORRESof New York, Mr. CAR-
SON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. JACKSONof Illinois, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr.
G
OLDMANof New York, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. KELLYof Illinois, Mrs.
C
HERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. WILSONof Florida, and Ms. LEEof Penn-
sylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House
Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Arturo Alfonso
Schomburg, in recognition of his pioneering work in col-
lecting and preserving the history and culture of the
African diaspora.
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 ‘‘Arturo Alfonso 4
Schomburg Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress makes the following findings: 2
(1) Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was born on 3
January 24, 1874, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, to a 4
Puerto Rican father of German descent and an Afro- 5
Caribbean mother from St. Croix. 6
(2) In his youth, a teacher told Schomburg that 7
people of African descent had no history, heroes, or 8
accomplishments, which inspired him to dedicate his 9
life to proving this notion wrong by collecting evi-10
dence of the contributions of Africans and their de-11
scendants. 12
(3) At the age of 17, Schomburg immigrated to 13
New York City, where he became an active member 14
of the intellectual community during the Harlem 15
Renaissance, contributing significantly to the pro-16
motion of African and African American culture and 17
history. 18
(4) Schomburg amassed a personal collection of 19
over 10,000 items related to Black history and the 20
African diaspora, which he made accessible to the 21
public. 22
(5) His collection featured original newspapers 23
published by Frederick Douglass, poems by Phillis 24
Wheatley, letters from Toussaint Louverture, books 25
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and journals by Paul Cuffe, and music composed by 1
Chevalier de Saint-Georges. 2
(6) During the 1920s, Schomburg was an active 3
member of the Negro Society for Historical Re-4
search and the American Negro Academy, writing on 5
the history of the global African diaspora and Cuban 6
poets of African descent. 7
(7) In 1926, the New York Public Library ac-8
quired Schomburg’s collection, which became the 9
foundation for the Schomburg Center for Research 10
in Black Culture in Harlem, a world-renowned insti-11
tution for the study of the global Black experience. 12
(8) Schomburg’s archive has grown to more 13
than 10 million items. 14
(9) Schomburg’s efforts have inspired genera-15
tions of scholars, writers, and artists to explore and 16
celebrate the rich history and culture of the African 17
diaspora. 18
(10) The Congressional Gold Medal would be 19
an appropriate way to honor Schomburg’s legacy 20
and his role in laying the foundation for future 21
scholarship and global recognition of Black contribu-22
tions to society. 23
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SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 1
(a) A
WARDAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 2
House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 3
of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 4
posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 5
medal of appropriate design to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, 6
in recognition of his pioneering work in collecting and pre-7
serving the history and culture of the African diaspora. 8
(b) D
ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 9
presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 10
of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-11
retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 12
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-13
retary. 14
(c) S
MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 16
gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 17
shall be given to the National Museum of African 18
American History and Culture of the Smithsonian 19
Institution, where it shall be displayed as appro-20
priate and made available for research. 21
(2) S
ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 22
Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 23
make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 24
available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 25
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locations and events associated with Arturo Alfonso 1
Schomburg. 2
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 3
The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 4
bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 5
a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 6
materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 7
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 8
(a) N
ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-9
ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 10
51 of title 31, United States Code. 11
(b) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—or purposes of sections 12
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 13
struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 14
items. 15
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 16
SALE. 17
(a) A
UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 18
authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 19
Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-20
essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 21
this Act. 22
(b) P
ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 23
sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 24
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4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 1
Enterprise Fund. 2
Æ
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