[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 450 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 450
To award posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal to Emmett Till and
Mamie Till-Mobley.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 25, 2021
Mr. Burr (for himself, Mr. Booker, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Bennet, Mr.
Blumenthal, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Casey, Ms. Collins, Mr. Coons, Mr.
Cornyn, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Feinstein,
Mr. Hawley, Ms. Hirono, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr.
Lankford, Mr. Markey, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Murphy, Mr.
Portman, Mr. Reed, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Scott of
South Carolina, Mr. Tillis, Mr. Warnock, Ms. Warren, Mr. Whitehouse,
Mr. Wicker, and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To award posthumously the Congressional Gold Medal to Emmett Till and
Mamie Till-Mobley.
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 ``Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley
Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The brutal lynching of Emmett Till and the subsequent
bravery and boldness of his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, became a
catalyst for the civil rights movement.
(2) On August 28, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till was
kidnapped, beaten, and shot in Money, Mississippi, where he had
traveled from Chicago to stay with his great uncle, Moses
Wright.
(3) The corpse of Emmett Till was discovered 3 days later
in the Tallahatchie River and his murderers were acquitted
despite Moses Wright providing an eyewitness testimony that the
men on trial kidnapped Emmett Till.
(4) Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till,
demonstrated her love for her son and her courage and strength
in suffering in the days that followed as she brought the body
of Emmett Till back to Chicago for burial and demanded an open
casket funeral, which drew more than 50,000 attendees.
(5) Mamie Till-Mobley further allowed a photograph to be
taken of Emmett Till in his casket, which was shown throughout
the world.
(6) The original casket of Emmett Till stands on display at
the National Museum of African American History and Culture as
an enduring reminder of the racial violence that is a part of
the history of the United States that the people of the United
States must confront.
(7) The heroic actions of Mamie Till-Mobley in the midst of
evil, injustice, and grief became a catalyst for the civil
rights movement and continued in the years to come as she
worked for justice and honored the legacy of Emmett Till.
(8) Mamie Till-Mobley went on to create the Emmett Till
Players, which was a significant national cultural contribution
as teenagers traveled throughout the country presenting Martin
Luther King, Jr., speeches in the name of Emmett Till.
(9) Mamie Till-Mobley also served as chair and co-founder
of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, which had the dual mission
of reopening the murder of Emmett Till for a reinvestigation
and a passage into law of Federal legislation to ensure that
other racially motivated murders during the civil rights era
were investigated and, when possible, prosecuted.
(10) The efforts of the Emmett Till Justice Campaign led to
the successful joint investigation by the State of Mississippi,
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of
Justice in 2004, the passage of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil
Rights Crime Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-344; 122 Stat. 3934),
signed into law by President George W. Bush, and the Emmett
Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016
(Public Law 114-325; 130 Stat. 1965), signed into law by
President Barack Obama.
(11) The people of the United States honor the legacy of
Emmett Till and the incredible suffering and equally incredible
courage, resilience, and efforts of Mamie Till-Mobley that led
to the civil rights movement that began in the 1950s.
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 posthumous presentation, on behalf of
Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration of
Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley.
(b) Design and Striking.--For purposes of the presentation referred
to in 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.
(c) Award of Medal.--
(1) In general.--After the award of the gold medal referred
to in subsection (a), the gold medal shall be given to the
National Museum of African American History and Culture, where
it shall be displayed as appropriate.
(2) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the National Museum of African American History and Culture
should make the gold medal received under paragraph (1)
available for display elsewhere, particularly at other
locations and events associated with Emmett Till and Mamie
Till-Mobley.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
Under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, the
Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medal
struck under section 3, at a price sufficient to cover the costs of the
medals, 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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