Poet and activist Maya Angelou has become the first African American woman to appear on the US quarter, in a new version of the coin unveiled by the US Mint on Monday.
Angelou, author of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” will also be the first figure commemorated through the American Women Quarters Program, which was signed into law in January 2021.
The US Mint “has begun shipping the first coins” with Angelou’s likeness on the American quarter, a 25-cent piece, according to a press release from the agency.
“It is my honor to present our nation’s first circulating coins dedicated to celebrating American women and their contributions to American history,” said Mint Deputy Director Ventris Gibson.
“Each 2022 quarter is designed to reflect the breadth and depth of accomplishments being celebrated throughout this historic coin program. Maya Angelou, featured on the reverse of this first coin in the series, used words to inspire and uplift.”
The program directs the US Mint to issue quarters each year between 2022 and 2025 featuring five different female trailblazers who have contributed to the country.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she was “proud that these coins celebrate the contributions of some of America’s most remarkable women.”
The new quarters — which have been minted in Philadelphia and Denver — show Washington on one side and Angelou on the other.
The other figures set to appear on the coin in 2022 are: Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, Nina Otero-Warren, a New Mexico suffrage leader and Anna May Wong, a Chinese American film star.
Angelou, who was born in Missouri in 1928, was an essayist and poet who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X during the Civil Rights Movement.
Angelou, who delivered the poem at former President Bill Clinton’s first inauguration, died in 2014.
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