Get ready if you are a fan of literature because the American writer and social activist Maya Angelou was chosen to be the first woman to be featured on US coins as part of a special program.
The quarter coins will show Angelou with her arms spread open and they have just been released to the public. George Washington’s face will still be on the opposite side of each quarter.
This makes Angelou the first African American woman to be featured in the quarters, as well as the first woman of the US Mint’s American Women Quarter Program.
The American writer was chosen because of her use of words “to inspire and uplift”, according to a statement released by US Mint.
The program of which Maya Angelou is part “celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women to the development and history of our country” and will last until 2025.
Other women that will be featured on US coins in 2022 include Dr. Sally Ride, Wilma Mankiller, Nina Otero-Warren, and Anna May Wong, according to the US Mint. And they were chosen from “ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds”.
