Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1817 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1817
5	5	To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, in
6	6	recognition of his pioneering work in collecting and preserving the history
7	7	and culture of the African diaspora.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH3, 2025
10	10	Ms. V
11	11	ELA´ZQUEZ(for herself, Mr. SOTO, Mr. TORRESof New York, Mr. CAR-
12	12	SON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. JACKSONof Illinois, Mrs. MCIVER, Mr.
13	13	G
14	14	OLDMANof New York, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. KELLYof Illinois, Mrs.
15	15	C
16	16	HERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. WILSONof Florida, and Ms. LEEof Penn-
17	17	sylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
18	18	mittee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House
19	19	Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
20	20	er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
21	21	risdiction of the committee concerned
22	22	A BILL
23	23	To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Arturo Alfonso
24	24	Schomburg, in recognition of his pioneering work in col-
25	25	lecting and preserving the history and culture of the
26	26	African diaspora.
27	27	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
28	28	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
29	29	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
30	30	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arturo Alfonso 4
31	31	Schomburg Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 5
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34	34	•HR 1817 IH
35	35	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
36	36	Congress makes the following findings: 2
37	37	(1) Arturo Alfonso Schomburg was born on 3
38	38	January 24, 1874, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, to a 4
39	39	Puerto Rican father of German descent and an Afro- 5
40	40	Caribbean mother from St. Croix. 6
41	41	(2) In his youth, a teacher told Schomburg that 7
42	42	people of African descent had no history, heroes, or 8
43	43	accomplishments, which inspired him to dedicate his 9
44	44	life to proving this notion wrong by collecting evi-10
45	45	dence of the contributions of Africans and their de-11
46	46	scendants. 12
47	47	(3) At the age of 17, Schomburg immigrated to 13
48	48	New York City, where he became an active member 14
49	49	of the intellectual community during the Harlem 15
50	50	Renaissance, contributing significantly to the pro-16
51	51	motion of African and African American culture and 17
52	52	history. 18
53	53	(4) Schomburg amassed a personal collection of 19
54	54	over 10,000 items related to Black history and the 20
55	55	African diaspora, which he made accessible to the 21
56	56	public. 22
57	57	(5) His collection featured original newspapers 23
58	58	published by Frederick Douglass, poems by Phillis 24
59	59	Wheatley, letters from Toussaint Louverture, books 25
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62	62	•HR 1817 IH
63	63	and journals by Paul Cuffe, and music composed by 1
64	64	Chevalier de Saint-Georges. 2
65	65	(6) During the 1920s, Schomburg was an active 3
66	66	member of the Negro Society for Historical Re-4
67	67	search and the American Negro Academy, writing on 5
68	68	the history of the global African diaspora and Cuban 6
69	69	poets of African descent. 7
70	70	(7) In 1926, the New York Public Library ac-8
71	71	quired Schomburg’s collection, which became the 9
72	72	foundation for the Schomburg Center for Research 10
73	73	in Black Culture in Harlem, a world-renowned insti-11
74	74	tution for the study of the global Black experience. 12
75	75	(8) Schomburg’s archive has grown to more 13
76	76	than 10 million items. 14
77	77	(9) Schomburg’s efforts have inspired genera-15
78	78	tions of scholars, writers, and artists to explore and 16
79	79	celebrate the rich history and culture of the African 17
80	80	diaspora. 18
81	81	(10) The Congressional Gold Medal would be 19
82	82	an appropriate way to honor Schomburg’s legacy 20
83	83	and his role in laying the foundation for future 21
84	84	scholarship and global recognition of Black contribu-22
85	85	tions to society. 23
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88	88	•HR 1817 IH
89	89	SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 1
90	90	(a) A
91	91	WARDAUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 2
92	92	House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 3
93	93	of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 4
94	94	posthumous presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 5
95	95	medal of appropriate design to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, 6
96	96	in recognition of his pioneering work in collecting and pre-7
97	97	serving the history and culture of the African diaspora. 8
98	98	(b) D
99	99	ESIGN ANDSTRIKING.—For the purposes of the 9
100	100	presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 10
101	101	of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-11
102	102	retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 12
103	103	devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Sec-13
104	104	retary. 14
105	105	(c) S
106	106	MITHSONIANINSTITUTION.— 15
107	107	(1) I
108	108	N GENERAL.—Following the award of the 16
109	109	gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 17
110	110	shall be given to the National Museum of African 18
111	111	American History and Culture of the Smithsonian 19
112	112	Institution, where it shall be displayed as appro-20
113	113	priate and made available for research. 21
114	114	(2) S
115	115	ENSE OF CONGRESS .—It is the sense of 22
116	116	Congress that the Smithsonian Institution should 23
117	117	make the gold medal received under paragraph (1) 24
118	118	available for display elsewhere, particularly at other 25
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121	121	•HR 1817 IH
122	122	locations and events associated with Arturo Alfonso 1
123	123	Schomburg. 2
124	124	SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 3
125	125	The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 4
126	126	bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 3, at 5
127	127	a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 6
128	128	materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses. 7
129	129	SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 8
130	130	(a) N
131	131	ATIONALMEDALS.—The medals struck pursu-9
132	132	ant to this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 10
133	133	51 of title 31, United States Code. 11
134	134	(b) N
135	135	UMISMATICITEMS.—or purposes of sections 12
136	136	5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 13
137	137	struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 14
138	138	items. 15
139	139	SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 16
140	140	SALE. 17
141	141	(a) A
142	142	UTHORITYTOUSEFUNDAMOUNTS.—There is 18
143	143	authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 19
144	144	Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec-20
145	145	essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck under 21
146	146	this Act. 22
147	147	(b) P
148	148	ROCEEDS OFSALE.—Amounts received from the 23
149	149	sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 24
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152	152	•HR 1817 IH
153	153	4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 1
154	154	Enterprise Fund. 2
155	155	Æ
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