**Click here to download audio of this week’s column**
From the 1940s until 1999, all quarters looked essentially the same. The U.S. Mint had been using the same design on every new quarter for more than 60 years – George Washington on one side, and a bald eagle on the other.
Many of those quarters are still in use today. But in 1999, through the 50 State Quarters Program, the Mint produced a new set of quarters. Each kept the image of our first president, but the other side now shows a unique symbol of one of the 50 states.
This program was so popular that the Mint started another quarters program in 2010, called America the Beautiful, which featured national parks and historic sites across the United States. This program is scheduled to end this year, so Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and I introduced a bill to create a new program, the American Women Quarters Program.
President Trump signed the bill into law in January, and from 2022 to 2025, 20 great American women will take their place on a new set of quarters. This will be the first time in history that women have been featured so prominently on our currency.
The Mint recently announced that Maya Angelou and Sally Ride will be featured on the first two designs. As a renowned writer, poet, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou is an excellent choice. Many of her works, such as her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, continue to be taught in English classes across the country.
Sally Ride made history in 1983 as the first American woman to go to space. She had achieved her dream of becoming a NASA astronaut just five years before as part of the first astronaut class to accept women. After her service with NASA, she went on to teach college physics, and she also co-wrote several books aimed at introducing children to careers in science.
Angelou and Ride were chosen because their examples have inspired generations of women to excel in their own fields. The next 18 women will be chosen by the first female Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, and they will be trailblazers as well. The Treasury Department has invited the public to submit recommendations for these next quarters. If you would like to nominate your favorite Nebraska Hall of Fame woman, you may do so through a portal on the Mint’s website.
Our bill also asks the Mint to issue a special quarter featuring a woman in 2026 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And from 2027 to 2030, they will produce coins emblematic of the sports played by our nation’s youth. These quarters will honor the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Summer Olympics, both of which will be held in the United States. It also gives them the authority to make the 2028 Olympic medals, which the Mint has never done before.
The 50 State Quarters Program commemorated the start of a new millennium in 1999, and the American Women Quarters Program will do the same for the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification, which we celebrated last year. I hope Nebraska’s next generation of leaders, both male and female, will be inspired to make the most of their bright futures when they see these extraordinary women on their quarters starting next year.
Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.