Quarter Dollar 2022 Maya Angelou, Coin from United States - detailed information

The Quarter Dollar is a United States coin worth 25 cents. From its inception until 1964, the denomination was issued in silver; it underwent several design changes, including finally the silver Washington quarter (1932 - 1964) featuring the first President of the United States on the obverse and the American Eagle on the reverse, issued then until 1998 in copper-nickel. The U.S Mint then embarked on several long term projects: the State Quarters series of 50 coins featuring each State from 1999 to 2008; in 2009, a six-coin series represented the District of Columbia and five US territories, and then the America the Beautiful program (2010 - 2021). After a brief interlude with a Washington commemorative quarter, the U.S. Mint started the American Women Quarters program in 2022.

Running until 2025, the program honours five women on five reverse designs per year, selected for "contributions to the United States in a wide spectrum of accomplishments and fields, including but not limited to suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and arts". The obverse depicts George Washington with a 1931 design by Laura Gardin Fraser.

The Maya Angelou Quarter is the first coin in the American Women Quarters Program; it was released on 3 January 2022.

Maya Angelou was a celebrated writer, performer, and social activist. She rose to international prominence as an author after the publication of her groundbreaking autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Angelou’s published works of verse, non-fiction, and fiction include more than 30 bestselling titles. Angelou’s remarkable career encompasses dance, theatre, journalism, and social activism. She appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway plays, including “Cabaret for Freedom”, which she wrote with Godfrey Cambridge. At the request of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., she served as northern coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1978, she was a National Book Award judge for biography and autobiography.

Angelou read “On the Pulse of Morning” at the 1992 inauguration of President Clinton. Angelou’s reading marked the first time an African American woman wrote and presented a poem at a presidential inauguration. She was also only the second poet in history to do so, following Robert Frost, who recited a poem at President Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961. Angelou received more than 30 honorary degrees and was inducted into the Wake Forest University Hall of Fame for Writers. In 2010, President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was also the 2013 recipient of the Literarian Award, an honorary National Book Award for contributions to the literary community.

Maya Angelou Quarter Dollars issued in 2022 have now been in circulation for only three years.