HR3622-119

What This Bill Does

The Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Congressional Gold Medal Act is a recognition and Mint implementation bill. The findings document Mulholland's role in the student-led nonviolent civil rights movement: sit-ins in Durham, work with SNCC and the Non-Violent Action Group, CORE Freedom Rides to Jackson, imprisonment at Parchman Penitentiary, integration of Tougaloo College as its first full-time white student, the Jackson Woolworth's sit-in, the Selma to Montgomery March, the March Against Fear, later public service with the Community Relations Service, education work in Arlington County Public Schools, and continuing civil-rights education. The operative sections require the Speaker and Senate President pro tempore to arrange presentation of a Congressional Gold Medal, direct the Treasury Secretary to strike a medal with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, give the medal to Mulholland or her son Loki Mulholland if unavailable, allow Treasury to strike and sell duplicate bronze medals at a price covering labor, materials, dies, machinery, and overhead, classify the medals as national medals and numismatic items, charge costs to the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund, and deposit duplicate-sale proceeds back into that fund.

Who Benefits and How

Joan Trumpauer Mulholland benefits from Congress's highest civilian medal recognizing her civil-rights direct action and education work. Civil rights educators benefit because the findings preserve a detailed congressional account of Freedom Rides, Tougaloo College integration, and the Jackson Movement. Tougaloo College communities benefit from recognition of the college's role in Mississippi civil-rights organizing. Medal collectors benefit because Treasury may sell duplicate bronze medals as numismatic items.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Treasury Mint staff must design, strike, price, sell, and account for the gold and bronze medals. Congressional leadership offices must arrange the medal presentation. The United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund initially covers medal costs before duplicate-sale proceeds are deposited. Civil rights historians may need to contextualize a congressional medal process that compresses a long activist record into a formal honor.

Key Provisions

• Awards a Congressional Gold Medal to Joan Trumpauer Mulholland for civil-rights activism and education.
• Requires congressional leadership to arrange the presentation of the medal.
• Directs the Treasury Secretary to strike the medal and determine its design.
• Authorizes duplicate bronze medals for sale at cost-covering prices.
• Uses the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund for costs and deposits duplicate-sale proceeds into that fund.