Histocrats: And the latest news in Numismatics......

Have you heard the news? From 2022 through 2025, the United States Mint will be releasing up to 5 new quarter designs each year, honoring great American women. This comes on the heels of the very popular state, territory, and national park quarters. For more info, here's the link to the Mint page https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/american-women-quarters?doing_wp_cron=1634230641.4021039009094238281250 .

The obverse ("heads") will continue to be a portrait of George Washington, but a different portrait than we're used to. The reverse ("tails") will feature the chosen woman. The distinguished American women celebrated on the 2022 quarters will be:

Maya Angelou – celebrated writer, performer, and social activist
Dr. Sally Ride – physicist, astronaut, educator, and first American woman in space
Wilma Mankiller – first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation
Nina Otero-Warren – a leader in New Mexico’s suffrage movement and the first female superintendent of Santa Fe public schools
Anna May Wong – first Chinese American film star in Hollywood

How were these women selected? They were selected through the joint efforts of the Secretary of the Treasury, the Smithsonian Institution’s American Women’s History Initiative, the National Women’s History Museum, and the Congressional Bipartisan Women’s Caucus. In 2021, the public was invited to submit recommendations for potential honorees through a web portal established by the National Women’s History Museum. (I totally missed this announcement somehow and knew nothing about it.)

What a great program! I collected coins as a kid, and I know what a great learning tool that the hobby can be, stimulating the interest and the curiosity of kids and adults alike. But what a great task that lies ahead, the selection of n more than 20 women --- well, actually 15, since the first 5 have been selected.

I sat down and made a list of women who I think are deserving of the honor, and, after only a couple of minutes' thought, it's a long one. Here's my list. Whom did I miss ? (Remember, the law requires that the honoree must be dead.)

Anne Hutchinson Abigail Adams Martha Washington Sacajawea

Sojourner Truth Phillis Wheatley Lucretia Mott Dorothea Dix