The U.S. Mint will begin shipping its first currency featuring an Asian American, Anna May Wong, on Oct. 24.
Wong, born Wong Liu Tsong, was a Chinese American actress who earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and will be featured on quarters manufactured in the mint’s Denver and Philadelphia facilities. The mint has chosen four other women to feature throughout this year, including Wong. She was the first Asian American acting lead in an American television series, the show being “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong.”
US MINT REVEALS DESIGNS FOR QUARTERS FEATURING ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, BESSIE COLEMAN, AND OTHER WOMEN
“The fifth coin in our American Women Quarters Program honors Anna May Wong, a courageous advocate who championed for increased representation and more multidimensional roles for Asian American actors,” Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson said in a press release. “Along with the hard work, determination, and skill Anna May Wong brought to the profession of acting, I think it was her face and expressive gestures that really captivated movie audiences, so I included these elements next to her name.”
The legacies of the poet Maya Angelou, astronaut Sally Ride, suffragist Nina Otero-Warren, and first female Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller were acknowledged by the mint during its first batch in January. Angelou was the first black woman to be featured on U.S. currency.
A total of 20 honorees will be featured on quarters through 2025. Every batch of five women annually will represent an “ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse group of individuals” who have “a wide range of accomplishments and fields, including suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts.”
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Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, aviation pilot Bessie Coleman, Mexican American journalist Jovita Idar, Hawaiian composer Edith Kanakaʻole, and Native American ballerina Maria Tallchief will be next year’s honorees.
Wong died of a heart attack in 1961 at the age of 56.
