Sponsors (7)
The bill honors Sarah Keys Evans and promotes public awareness and access to commemorative medals while relying on symbolic recognition rather than legal change, and it leaves sales, administrative details, and financial uses constrained or unclear.
A federal Congressional Gold Medal formally honors Sarah Keys Evans, raising national awareness of her service and an important civil‑rights precedent.
The bill explicitly recognizes that federal law forbids racial segregation on interstate buses, reaffirming civil‑rights legal precedent and public record of that principle.
The award and associated recognition create a teachable moment that can help educators and communities highlight civil‑rights history and inspire students.
The bill's findings and honors are largely symbolic and do not create new legal protections, funding, or enforcement mechanisms, which may raise expectations without producing substantive policy change.
The legislation leaves sales and program administration imprecisely specified, creating potential confusion about which office handles sales and allowing regulatory discretion that could produce inconsistent availability, quality, or pricing across administrations.
Structuring replica pricing to merely cover costs and subjecting proceeds to numismatic program rules limits any potential revenue for broader programs or remittance to Treasury and reduces flexibility for sponsoring organizations.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes Congress to present a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans in recognition of her civil rights actions and military service, directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint a suitably designed gold medal, and allows bronze duplicate copies to be struck and sold. The medals will be designated as national numismatic items under existing federal law. The bill recounts Keys Evans’s 1952 refusal to give up her seat on an interstate bus, the resulting ICC decision that barred carrier-enforced segregation on interstate travel, and other biographical and historical findings; it does not create new programs or appropriate funds or set a specific effective date.
Introduced February 14, 2025 by Don Davis · Last progress February 14, 2025