11 April 2021
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The United States Mint has revealed the names of the first two women to be honoured on coins issued under the American Women Quarters Program.
Famed writer Maya Angelou and trailblazing astronaut Dr. Sally Ride will be the first distinguished American women celebrated on the reverse of the USA’s circulating quarters.
The Mint will issue circulating and numismatic quarter-dollar coins with reverse (tails) designs emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of a prominent American woman, beginning in January 2022.
Contributions may come from a wide spectrum of fields including, but not limited to:
- suffrage
- civil rights
- abolition
- government
- humanities
- science
- space
- the arts
According to the Mint, the women honoured will come from ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds.
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As the Public Law requires that no living person be featured in the coin designs, all of the women honoured must be deceased. The Mint will annually issue up to five different reverse designs over the four-year period beginning in 2022 and continuing through 2025.
The obverse (heads) of coins in this program will continue to feature a likeness of George Washington designed 'in a manner to distinguish it from the current image'.
The public is invited to submit recommendations for women to be honoured via a special web portal established by the National Women’s History Museum.
In accordance with the Public Law, the Secretary of the Treasury selects the women to be honoured following consultation with the Smithsonian Institution’s American Women’s History Initiative, the National Women’s History Museum, and the Congressional Bipartisan Women’s Caucus.
The Mint is set to announce additional information about the American Women Quarters Program in the coming months.
