Arturo Alfonso Schomburg Congressional Gold Medal Act
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · March 3, 2025
Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
H.R. 1817 authorizes Congress to award a posthumous Congressional Gold Medal to Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, the Puerto Rican-born historian and collector who dedicated his life to preserving the history and culture of the African diaspora. Schomburg amassed a personal collection of over 10,000 items—including documents by Frederick Douglass and Toussaint Louverture—which the New York Public Library acquired in 1926 and which became the foundation for the renowned Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, now holding over 10 million items. The bill directs the Secretary of the Treasury to design and strike the gold medal, which will then be permanently housed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African American History and Culture, with the possibility of being displayed at other venues associated with Schomburg. The Secretary is also authorized to produce and sell duplicate bronze medals to cover production costs, with proceeds returning to the U.S. Mint. There is no specified funding amount or timeline in the legislation beyond the authorization for the Treasury to use necessary amounts from the U.S. Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
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