[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1377 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1377
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 14, 2025
Mr. Davis of North Carolina (for himself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Johnson of
Georgia, Mr. Lynch, and Ms. Ross) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans, and for other
purposes.
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 ``Sarah Keys Evans Congressional Gold
Medal Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Sarah Keys Evans was born on April 18, 1929, in
Washington, North Carolina, in a town called Keysville, the
second oldest of seven children.
(2) Sarah Keys, an Army veteran and civil rights pioneer,
is a living example that change is possible if we are willing
to stand up and fight for what is right.
(3) Before the 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery
bus boycott that followed, there was Sarah Keys Evans. Her
refusal to give up her seat on an interstate charter bus
prompted the landmark court case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach
Company, in which the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
outlawed the segregation of Black passengers in buses traveling
across State lines.
(4) On August 1, 1952, Women's Army Corps, Private First
Class Sarah Keys, boarded a bus in Trenton, New Jersey, for her
first home visit to Washington, North Carolina, since joining
the military. The bus she boarded would take her directly to
her North Carolina destination without any required bus
changes.
(5) Once the bus reached Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, a
new driver took over the bus and as was custom, went through
the bus and rechecked tickets. When he came to Ms. Keys, he
told her to give up her seat to a White Marine who boarded the
bus in Roanoke Rapids and move to the back of the bus. Tired
from her long journey and understanding her rights, Sarah
refused.
(6) Six years prior, in 1946, there was a Supreme Court
decision (Morgan v. Virginia) that said it was illegal to
practice passenger segregation on interstate buses, but local
jurisdictions found ways to circumvent Federal laws.
(7) Frustrated with her persistence, the bus driver
announced that all passengers would be moving to a different
bus, but ``that woman'' who refused to change her seat,
referring to Ms. Keys, would not be allowed to board the new
bus and would not be allowed to continue the trip.
(8) Shortly thereafter, two police officers arrived at the
bus terminal, took Sarah by the arms into a patrol car and
drove her to the Roanoke Rapids police station. Because she
refused to be subjected to unjust discrimination and prejudice,
she was forced to stay in jail overnight and was fined $25.00
before her release.
(9) Once Sarah arrived home and informed her family of the
injustice she endured, her father encouraged her to seek legal
action.
(10) The National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP) referred the family to attorney Dovey
Johnson Roundtree, a Captain in the Women's Army Corps, who
brought her case before the ICC. The ICC meeting in the
District of Columbia took place on May 12, 1954. It was decided
by only one member of the ICC.
(11) New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., agreed
it was not fair that the other 10 members of the ICC were not
involved in the decision. Congressman Powell helped persuade
the ICC to reconsider its decision.
(12) After the Supreme Court decision on Brown v. Board of
Education on May 17, 1954, and with the support of Department
of Justice Attorney General Herbert Brownell, the ICC reached a
new decision. A majority of the ICC members had decided that it
was wrong for people on State-to-State trips to be forced to
sit in certain seats on a bus because of the color of their
skin and that it was against the law.
(13) The ICC decision on November 25, 1955, went further
than the Supreme Court's ruling in 1946 which had outlawed only
unfair laws that a State might make, not rules that a bus
company might make.
(14) In Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, the ICC ruled
in favor of Keys Evans. In their decision, the Commission found
the Interstate Commerce Act forbids segregation as the practice
subjects passengers to ``unjust discrimination, and undue and
unreasonable prejudice and disadvantage, in violation of
section 216(d) of the Interstate Commerce Act and is therefore
unlawful''.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.
(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 the
Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to Mrs. Sarah Keys
Evans, in recognition of her achievements.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation under
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this Act
as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems,
devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
(a) Striking of Duplicates.--Under such regulations as the
Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary may strike duplicates in bronze
of the gold medal struck under section 3.
(b) Selling of Duplicates.--The Secretary may sell such duplicates
under subsection (a) at a price sufficient to cover the costs of such
duplicates, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and
overhead expenses.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
(a) National Medals.--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 section 5134 of title 31,
United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be
considered to be numismatic items.
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