Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 122.djvu/5044

 12 2 STA T .50 21 PUBLIC LA W 110 –4 51 —DE C.2 , 200 8PublicLaw1 1 0–45 1 110 thCongres s A n Act Torequi re th e S e c ret a r y o f the Trea s ury to m i n t coins in commemoration of the semicentennia l of the enactment of the C i v il R i g hts A ct of 1964.Beit e nac te dby t h e S enate and Hous eo fR e pr esentati v es of the U nited States of Am erica in C on g ress assemb l ed ,SECTION1. S H O R T TIT L E. ThisActmaybe cite d as the ‘ ‘ C i v i lR i g hts Act of1964 Commemo r ative Coi n Act ’ ’ . SEC. 2 . F IN D IN G S. The Congress hereby finds as follo w s

1 )O n D ecember 1, 19 5 5, Rosa P ar k s’ brave act of defiance, ref u sing to give u p her seat to a white person on a segregated bus in M ontgomery, Alabama, galvani z ed the modern civil rights movement and led to the desegregation of the S outh. ( 2 )On F ebruary 1, 196 0, 4 college students, J oseph Mc N eil, Franklin McCain, David Richmond, and E zell B lair, Jr., asked to be served at a lunch counter in G reensboro, North Carolina, and lunch counter sit - ins began to occur throughout the South to challenge segregation in places of public accommodation. ( 3 ) On May 4, 1961, the Freedom Rides into the South began to test new court orders barring segregation in interstate transportation, and riders were j ailed and beaten by mobs in several places, including Birmingham and Montgomery, Ala- bama. (4) Dr. Martin L uther K ing, Jr., was the leading civil rights advocate of the time, spearheading the civil rights move- ment in the U nited States during the 1950s and 1960s with the goal of nonviolent social change and full civil rights for African Americans. (5) On August 2 8, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., led over 250,000 civil rights supporters in the March on W ash- ington and delivered his famous ‘‘ IH ave A Dream’’ speech to raise awareness and support for civil rights legislation. (6) Mrs. Coretta Scott King, a leading participant in the American civil rights movement, was side-by-side with her hus- band, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., during many civil rights marches, organized Freedom Concerts to draw attention to the Movement, and worked in her own right to create an America in which all people have e q ual rights. ( 7 ) The mass movement sparked by Rosa Parks and led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., among others, called upon the Congress and Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon 31USC5 11 2note. C iv i lR i gh t sAc to f 1 964 Co m memo ra tive Coin Act. D ec. 2, 2 0 0 8[H .R. 2040 ]

�