Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 117.djvu/2664

 PUBLIC LAW 108–180—DEC. 15, 2003

117 STAT. 2645

Public Law 108–180 108th Congress An Act To award congressional gold medals posthumously on behalf of Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, Harry and Eliza Briggs, and Levi Pearson in recognition of their contributions to the Nation as pioneers in the effort to desegregate public schools that led directly to the landmark desegregation case of Brown et al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka et al.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Dec. 15, 2003 [H.R. 3287]

31 USC 5111 note.

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

The Congress finds as follows: (1) The Reverend Joseph Armstrong DeLaine, one of the true heroes of the civil rights struggle, led a crusade to break down barriers in education in South Carolina. (2) The efforts of Reverend DeLaine led to the desegregation of public schools in the United States, but forever scarred his own life. (3) In 1949, Joseph DeLaine, a minister and school principal, organized African-American parents in Summerton, South Carolina, to petition the school board for a bus for black students, who had to walk up to 10 miles through corn and cotton fields to attend a segregated school, while the white children in the school district rode to and from school in nice clean buses. (4) In 1950, these same parents, including Harry and Eliza Briggs, sued to end public school segregation in Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al., one of 5 cases that collectively led to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al. (5) Because of his participation in the desegregation movement, Reverend DeLaine was subjected to repeated acts of domestic terror in which— (A) he, along with 2 sisters and a niece, lost their jobs; (B) he fought off an angry mob; (C) he received frequent death threats; and (D) his church and his home were burned to the ground. (6) In October 1955, after Reverend DeLaine relocated to Florence County in South Carolina, shots were fired at the DeLaine home, and because Reverend DeLaine fired back to mark the car, he was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill.

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