The US mint will honor African American poet and activist Maya Angelou on the quarter.
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Present me the Maya.
The US Mint has begun rolling out quarters that includes iconic African American poet and activist Dr. Maya Angelou, marking the primary time a black lady has appeared on the coin.
“Every time we redesign our forex, we now have the prospect to say one thing about our nation — what we worth, and the way we’ve progressed as a society,” the US’ first feminine Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen mentioned in an announcement.
The commemorative coin is the primary of the American Girls Quarters program, which options quarters honoring pioneering ladies in US historical past, the US Mint reported in a separate assertion.
Angelou’s quarter will nonetheless characteristic the normal bust of George Washington on the “heads” facet whereas the converse can pay tribute to the African American trailblazer’s iconic autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Chook Sings.”
“I’m very proud that these cash have a good time the contributions of a few of America’s most exceptional ladies, together with Maya Angelou,” gushed Yellen of the initiative.
“Maya Angelou’s writing and activism impressed numerous People and her legacy helped gasoline higher equity and understanding throughout our nation,” seconded Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Senate sponsor of this system. “This coin will guarantee generations of People find out about Maya Angelou’s books and poetry that spoke to the lived expertise of black ladies.”
The Mint will concern 4 different commemorative quarters this 12 months with the opposite cash paying homage to Sally Experience, the primary American lady in house; Wilma Mankiller, the primary feminine chief of the Cherokee Nation; Anna Could Wong, the primary Chinese language-American Hollywood star; and suffragette Nina Otero-Warren, per the US Mint’s assertion. This system will reportedly run till 2025.
This isn’t the primary time a authorities has pushed for wider African American illustration on authorized tender. Final January, the Joe Biden administration introduced it will speed up efforts to interchange former president Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 invoice. The initiative had initially been introduced in 2016 underneath then-President Barack Obama however was subsequently stalled by former President Donald Trump, who's an admirer of Jackson.
Born in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1928, Angelou is finest identified for her 1969 memoir, “I Know Why the Caged Chook Sings,” which marked the primary nonfiction finest vendor penned by an African American lady. She was additionally energetic within the Civil Rights motion, working alongside iconic leaders similar to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. The trailblazer’s spectacular listing of accolades consists of two NAACP Picture Awards within the excellent literary work (nonfiction) class, in 2005 and 2009, in addition to a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010 from then-president Barack Obama.
Angelou died in 2014 on the age of 86.
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