Astronaut Sally Ride and poet and civic rights activist Maya Angelou have been announced as the first two women to be commemorate on US legal tender quarters , the US Mint hasannounced . They are the first individual observe as part of the US Mint ’s 4 - yearAmerican Women Quarters Programthat will celebrate the accomplishments of women " who made pregnant contributions to the Nation " .

The quarter shew Dr Ride and Angelou will be distributed from early 2022 , and though the designs have n’t been finalise , there are a few possible design being consider , which can be seenhere for Rideandhere for Angelou . The US mint expects to have 20 new quarters recognizing cleaning woman between next yr and 2025 , go up to five new coins every 12 months .

Dr Sally Ridewas an American astronaut and physicist . She was the first American woman in space and the third adult female overall . She joined NASA in 1978 and flew to space double on the quad shuttlecock missions in 1983 and 1984 , in commission of operating the shuttle ’s robotic arm , deploying orbiter into infinite . She died in 2012 .

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Maya Angelouwas an author , poet , and civil right field militant famous for her autobiographic bookI Know Why the Caged Bird Singsamongst many other piece of writing . During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s she worked with both Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X and was one of the most influential voices for human rights and Black rights in America properly up to her death in 2014 .   She was the first African American and first fair sex to recite a verse form at the startup of a US President in 1993 for President Bill Clinton .

In the US presently , only three appellative of coins admit as effectual tender have women on them : the Sacagawea dollar , the Susan B. Anthony one dollar bill , and the Helen Keller Alabama State Quarter . These fresh coins will be the first nationwide sound tender quarters to feature charwoman . The US Mint was place up in 1792 .

“ contribution may come from a encompassing spectrum of fields include , but not limited to , right to vote , civic rights , abolition , governing , humanities , science , space , and the nontextual matter . The women observe will come from ethnically , racially , and geographically diverse backgrounds , ” the US Mintsaid . The only judicial admission to have on a coin is that the person must be dead .

Members of the populace can submit recommendation throughthis Google Formfor the other honoree . The Secretary of the Treasury , Janet Yellen , will select the 18 other women to respect on these coins based on the suggestions and following consultation with the Smithsonian Institution ’s American Women ’s History Initiative , the National Women ’s History Museum , and the Congressional Bipartisan Women ’s Caucus .

The donation by cleaning woman to staunch fields in the US is immense and has too often been overlooked , but there are plenitude of names we would like to throw into the mix . MathematicianKatherine Johnson , physicistChien - Shiung Wu , public health advocate and physicianRebecca Cole , and reckoner scientistGrace Hopperare all great places to start if you are thinking of submitting a recommendation .

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