Maya Angelou To Be Featured On U.S Quarter In 2022

Source: WENN.com / WENN

Maya Angelou is receiving a well-deserved posthumous honor from the United States Mint program. According to a recent statement, Maya Angelou will be featured on a U.S quarter due to their 2022 American Women Quarters Program Coins.

“These inspiring coin designs tell the stories of five extraordinary women whose contributions are indelibly etched in American culture,” United States Mint Acting Director Alison L. Doone said in the 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.”

Along with Angelou, the other women that will featured on quarters will be Dr. Sally Ride the first American woman to soar into space, Anna May Wong, first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, Wilma Mankiller who was the first woman elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation and an activist for Native American and women’s rights and Nina Otero-Warren, an activist from the New Mexico’s suffrage movement and the first female superintendent of Santa Fe public schools. These trailblazing women won’t have the whole quarter to themselves though. They will all be featured on the tails side of the coin while George Washington will be on the heads side.

From 2022 to 2025, five of these quarters will be produced each year.

Source: United States Mint image / United States coin image from the United States Mint.

Angelou is receiving her posthumous honor by being featured on a quarter and it reminds me that we are still awaiting for the approval for Harriet Tubman’s likeness to be featured on a $20 bill. President Joe Biden had promised to continue the process of getting Tubman to replace known slave owner Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill but since he has been in office there haven’t been any updates. Biden may not be able to fulfill his promise because the $20 bill isn’t set to be redesigned until 2030. In 2013, the Advanced Counterfeit Deterrence Steering Committee decided that the $20 bill would be updated with security features to prevent counterfeiting. This decision came before then president Barack Obama promised that Tubman would grace the $20 bill.