Eleanor Roosevelt, Bessie Coleman among women honored in new coin designs

The U.S. Mint on Monday announced coin designs for its five new honorees in the second year of its American Women Quarters Program.

Indigenous Hawaiian composer Edith Kanaka’ole, Mexican American journalist Jovita Idár and Native American ballerina Maria Tallchief are among the women to be featured in reverse designs on quarters issued in 2023.

The new designs will also depict aviator Bessie Coleman, the first African American and first Native American woman pilot, and diplomat Eleanor Roosevelt, the longest-serving first lady.

The designs are “emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of trailblazing American women,” according to a press release. 

“The ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse group of individuals honored through this program reflects a wide range of accomplishments and fields, including suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts,” the U.S. Mint continued.

The coins will enter circulation next year.

“Edith Kanaka`ole was a leader in revitalizing Hawaiian language and culture, and her legacy still serves as a catalyst for Hawaiian knowledge today. I’m excited to see the design for her commemorative quarter, and I look forward to seeing these quarters put into circulation,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) wrote on Twitter after the designs were announced.

Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro (D) said he was “thrilled” that Idár, a South Texan journalist, would be memorialized for “her legacy and contributions to our society” in the new coins.

The previous 2022 five-coin rollout included author Maya Angelou, astronaut Sally Ride, suffragist Nina Otero-Warren, Hollywood film star Anna May Wong and Wilma Mankiller,  the first woman elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.