Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Congressional Gold Medal Act
This bill, titled the Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Congressional Gold Medal Act, would authorize Congress to award a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg in recognition of his pioneering work collecting and preserving the history and culture of the African diaspora. The act directs the Secretary of the Treasury to design and strike the medal, and then to place it with the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (with the expectation that it may be displayed elsewhere at appropriate events or locations). The bill also allows the mint to produce bronze duplicates for sale to recover costs, and specifies that the medals are national medals (and numismatic items) under U.S. law. Funding for the medal production would come from the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund, and proceeds from bronze duplicate sales would go back into that fund. The bill includes a set of findings detailing Schomburg’s life, his collection, and his impact on Black history and scholarship.
Key Points
- 1Posthumous Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg for his work collecting and preserving African diaspora history and culture; intended as a national honor from Congress.
- 2Design and striking of the medal to be overseen by the Secretary of the Treasury; a suitable design and inscriptions will be determined by the Secretary.
- 3The medal, once awarded, is to be given to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (Smithsonian) for display and research, with a sense that it should be available for display at other locations and events related to Schomburg.
- 4The Secretary may strike and sell bronze duplicates of the medal to recover costs; proceeds from bronze duplicate sales go into the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
- 5The medals are recognized as national medals and are treated as numismatic items under relevant U.S. law, with funding and accounting implications established in the bill.