U.S. Mint announces first five likenesses to appear on quarters honoring American women

A suffrage movement organizer, a poet and author, the first female in space, a revered Cherokee Nation leader and Hollywood film star are the first five women to appear on the U.S. quarter’s reverse side

The American Women Quarters Program is a four-year program that celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women to the development and history of the United States. Last week, the U.S. Mint announced the first five women to appear on the quarter next year. They are:

• Maya Angelou, celebrated poet and author.
• Dr. Sally Ride, first American woman in space.
• Wilma Mankiller, first female chief of the Cherokee Nation.
• Adelina Otero-Warren, a leader in New Mexico’s suffrage movement.
• Anna May Wong, first Chinese American Hollywood film star.

Beginning in 2022 and continuing through 2025, the Mint will strike up to five new reverse designs each year. The obverse of each coin will maintain a likeness of George Washington but be different from the design used during the previous quarter program.

The American Women Quarters Program is authorized by the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-330). It seeks to honor women from a variety of fields and from ethnically, racially and geographically diverse backgrounds.

The Mint said the public is invited to submit recommendations for potential honorees through the web portal established by the National Women’s History Museum.

The Secretary of the Treasury selects the honorees 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.