H.R. 1377

119th CONGRESS 1st Session

To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Sarah Keys Evans, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES · February 14, 2025 · Sponsor: Mr. Davis of North Carolina · Committee: Committee on Financial Services

Table of contents

• H.R. 1377
  • SEC. 1. Short title
  • SEC. 2. Findings
  • SEC. 3. Congressional Gold Medal
  • SEC. 4. Duplicate medals
  • SEC. 5. Status of medals

SEC. 1. Short title

• This Act may be cited as the Sarah Keys Evans Congressional Gold Medal Act.

SEC. 2. Findings

• Congress finds the following:
  • Sarah Keys Evans was born on April 18, 1929, in Washington, North Carolina, in a town called Keysville, the second oldest of seven children.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Frustrated with her persistence, the bus driver announced that all passengers would be moving to a different bus, but 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. that woman
  • 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.
  • Once Sarah arrived home and informed her family of the injustice she endured, her father encouraged her to seek legal action.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 ) 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 of title 31, United States Code. chapter 51
• (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.