Watch your pocket change, because poet Maya Angelou may be showing up there any day. The U.S. Mint has started shipping quarters featuring Angelou and will roll out four other new quarters celebrating trailblazing women in U.S. history starting later this year, the Mint said Jan. 10.
The Mint will run up to five new coin designs each year between 2022 and 2025 as part of its American Women Quarters Program. The first five coins will feature Angelou, Sally Ride, Anna May Wong, Wilma Mankiller and Nina Otero-Warren.
“These inspiring coin designs tell the stories of five extraordinary women whose contributions are indelibly etched in American culture,” said United States Mint Acting Director Alison Doone in a 2021 statement. “Generations to come will look at coins bearing these designs and be reminded of what can be accomplished with vision, determination and a desire to improve opportunities for all.”
The U.S. Mint’s American Women Quarters Program was made possible by legislation passed in 2020. The coins will feature women who made strides in fields such as civil rights, suffrage, the arts, humanities, government, space and science. The selections also “honor women from ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds,” the legislation states.
All five designs were created by artists from the United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program, and sculpted by United States Mint Medallic artists.
Angelou’s coin depicts the poet and activist with her arms uplifted as a bird flies behind her, with the sun in the background. The images are “inspired by her poetry and symbolic of the way she lived,” according to the U.S. Mint. Angelou was best known for her 1969 autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
Maya Angelou’s coin.
U.S. Mint
Ride’s coin shows the first American woman to soar in space next to a window on a space shuttle, inspired by her quote, “But when I wasn’t working, I was usually at a window looking down at Earth.”
Sally Ride’s coin.
U.S. Mint
Mankiller — the first woman elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and an activist for Native American and women’s rights — is featured on her coin wrapped in a traditional shawl, “with a resolute gaze to the future” and the wind at her back. The seven-pointed star of the Cherokee Nation is to her left, and “Cherokee Nation” appears in Cherokee syllabary on her coin.
Wilma Mankiller’s coin.
U.S. Mint
Otero-Warren was a leader in New Mexico’s suffrage movement, and the first female superintendent of Santa Fe public schools. She’s featured along with three Yucca flowers, the state flower of New Mexico. The inscription “VOTO PARA LA MUJER” — the Spanish counterpart for the suffragist slogan “Votes for Women” — also appears on her coin.
Nina Otero-Warren’s coin.
U.S. Mint
Wong was the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, appearing in more than 60 films. Her coin shows a portrait of the actress with her head resting on her hand, surrounded by the bright lights of a marquee.
Anna May Wong’s coin.
U.S. Mint
All five quarters feature a portrait of George Washington sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser on the “heads” side of the coin, which was originally submitted for a 1932 quarter marking Washington’s 200th birthday, but was ultimately passed over.
The public had an opportunity to submit recommendations for which women should be honored on the new quarters. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen oversaw the process and selection for the first five coins with the Smithsonian Institution’s American Women’s History Initiative, the National Women’s History Museum and the Congressional Bipartisan Women’s Caucus.
In the meantime, efforts to get Civil War-era abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill have stalled somewhat. President Joe Biden’s administration said in January 2021 that it was “taking steps” to honor the woman who led hundreds of slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad by getting her on the bill. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing said in December 2021 that the bill was expected in 2030, NY1 reported.
This story was originally published Oct. 8, 2021 and republished on Jan. 11, 2022.
