Maya Angelou, the African-American poet and activist, has officially joined a select group of Americans to appear on the currency of the United States government, US authorities announced on Monday.
Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, will be the first figure commemorated through the American Women Quarters Programme, which was signed into law in January 2021.
The US Mint "has begun shipping the first coins" with Angelou's likeness on the American quarter, a 25-cent piece, according to a press release from the agency.
"It is my honour to present our nation's first circulating coins dedicated to celebrating American women and their contributions to American history," said US Mint deputy director Ventris Gibson.
"Each 2022 quarter is designed to reflect the breadth and depth of accomplishments being celebrated throughout this historic coin programme. Maya Angelou, featured on the reverse of this first coin in the series, used words to inspire and uplift."
The programme directs the US Mint to issue quarters each year between 2022 and 2025 featuring five different female trailblazers who have contributed to the country.
The quarter has, for the last 90 years, shown the nation's first president, George Washington, on one side, and an eagle on the other.
The new quarters – which have been minted in Philadelphia and Denver – show Washington on one side and Angelou on the other.
The other figures to receive the honour in 2022 are: Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation; Nina Otero-Warren, a New Mexico suffrage leader and Anna May Wong, a Chinese-American film star.
Angelou, who was born in Missouri in 1928, was a well-known essayist and poet who worked with Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X during the American civil rights movement.
Angelou, who delivered the poem at former US president Bill Clinton's first inauguration in 1993, died in 2014.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also signalled support for recognising former slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman on US currency.
Former US president Barack Obama launched a project to put Tubman's face on the $20 bill, but it stalled under the administration of Donald Trump. Putting Tubman, a black woman who escaped slavery and became a leader of the pre-Civil War abolitionist movement, on the $20 bill would be an "honour" but designing banknotes takes time, Yellen said in September.
Scroll through our gallery below to see more of Maya Angelou through the years.
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Maya Angelou died in 2014 aged 86. -
Media mogul Russell Simmons escorts poet Maya Angelou to her seat at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial on the National Mall in Washington on November 13, 2006 file photo. Jonathan Ernst / Reuters -
US President Bill Clinton, right, congratulates Dr Maya Angelou, left, after presenting her with the National Medal of Arts during ceremonies at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC on December 20, 2000. Stephen Jaffe / AFP -
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton, right, holds the hand of Dr Maya Angelou during a conversation in front of an audience at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC during a campaign stop on April 18, 2008. Robyn Beck / AFP -
Coretta Scott King, left, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, and Maya Angelou speak to members of the media after visiting Betty Shabazz, the widow of slain civil rights activist Malcolm X, at Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx, NY on June 2, 1997. Jon Levy / AFP -
Poet and activist Maya Angelou speaks before delegates during the second night of the 2004 Democratic National Convention at the FleetCenter in Boston, Massachusetts on July 27, 2004. Gary Hershorn / Reuters -
Oprah Winfrey, right, laughs with poet Maya Angelou during the taping of Oprah’s Surprise Spectacular in Chicago on May 17, 2011. John Gress / Reuters -
Maya Angelou talks with reporters before giving a reading at the Abyssinian Development Corporation’s Tenth Annual Renaissance Day of Commitment Leadership Breakfast in Harlem, New York on June 15, 2004. Justin Lane / EPA -
US president Barack Obama, centre, kisses Dr Maya Angelou, a prominent and celebrated author, poet, educator, producer, actress, filmmaker, and civil rights activist after presenting to her the 2010 Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, DC on February 15, 2011. Tim Sloan / AFP -
Maya Angelou speaks during a ceremony to honour South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu with the J William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding Award in Washington on November 21, 2008. Jim Young / Reuters
