See the five women who'll adorn US quarters starting in February
Maya Angelou's quarter will be the first, followed by Sally Ride and other notable names.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
These five US quarters will honor different American women in 2022.
Five women will be honored on US quarters in 2022, beginning with writer Maya Angelou, who'll appear on a coin to be issued in February.
After Angelou, quarters will honor astronaut Sally Ride, Cherokee Nation chief Wilma Mankiller, suffrage movement leader Nina Otero-Warren and actor Anna May Wong.
Maya Angelou, who died in 2014, was a celebrated writer, performer and social activist.
Before this program, some women did appear on US coins, even quarters, but they were few and far between. Helen Keller, an Alabama native, can be seen on the 2003 Alabama quarter as part of the 50 State Quarters Program. The 2004 Iowa state quarter featured an image of a female teacher. Susan B. Anthony appeared on a dollar coin in 1979, and Native American Sacajawea appears on a golden dollar coin issued in 2000.
Ride's quarter, like Angelou's, will come out in February. Mankiller's will appear in the spring, Otero-Warren's in the summer, and Wong's will be the final quarter of the year.
Dr. Sally Ride was a physicist, astronaut, educator, and first American woman in space.
The designs were announced in October 2021. The famous women will appear on the reverse side of the coins, the side that's called "tails" in a coin toss. The "heads" side, also known as the obverse, will continue to feature first president George Washington, but in a slightly different image than is now being used. In this image, Washington faces right, rather than the familiar left-facing image.
Wilma Mankiller was the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.
The new Washington image, created by sculptor Laura Gardin Fraser, isn't technically new. It was the winning design in a competition back in 1932, when a quarter was issued to mark Washington's 200th birthday. But then-Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon chose a design by John Flannigan instead.
Nina Otero-Warren was a leader in New Mexico's suffrage movement and the first female superintendent of Santa Fe public schools.
The American Women Quarters Program continues through 2025. Up to five quarters will be released each year.
Anna May Wong was a Chinese-American Hollywood film star, appearing in more than 60 movies.