Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 118.djvu/1776

 118 STAT. 1746 PUBLIC LAW 108–368—OCT. 25, 2004 Public Law 108–368 108th Congress An Act To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the Congress to Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. (posthumously) and his widow Coretta Scott King in recognition of their contributions to the Nation on behalf of the civil rights movement. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. FINDINGS. Congress finds that— (1) Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. and his widow Coretta Scott King, as the first family of the civil rights move ment, have distinguished records of public service to the Amer ican people and the international community; (2) Dr. King preached a doctrine of nonviolent civil disobe dience to combat segregation, discrimination, and racial injus tice; (3) Dr. King led the Montgomery bus boycott for 381 days to protest the arrest of Mrs. Rosa Parks and the segregation of the bus system of Montgomery, Alabama; (4) in 1963, Dr. King led the march on Washington, D.C., that was followed by his famous address, the ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech; (5) through his work and reliance on nonviolent protest, Dr. King was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965; (6) despite efforts to derail his mission, Dr. King acted on his dream of America and succeeded in making the United States a better place; (7) Dr. King was assassinated for his beliefs on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee; (8) Mrs. King stepped into the civil rights movement in 1955 during the Montgomery bus boycott, and played an impor tant role as a leading participant in the American civil rights movement; (9) while raising 4 children, Mrs. King devoted herself to working alongside her husband for nonviolent social change and full civil rights for African Americans; (10) with a strong educational background in music, Mrs. King established and performed several Freedom Concerts, which were well received, and which combined prose and poetry narration with musical selections to increase awareness and understanding of the Southern Christian Leadership Con ference (of which Dr. King served as the first president); 31 USC 5111 note. Oct. 25, 2004 [S. 1368]

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