The United States Mint (Mint) is pleased to announce the designs for the second year of the American Women Quarters™ Program. Authorized by Public Law 116-330, this four-year program features coins with reverse (tails) designs emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of trailblazing American women. Beginning in 2022 and continuing through 2025, the Mint is issuing five quarters in each of these years. The ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse group of individuals honored through this program reflects a wide range of accomplishments and fields, including suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts. One of the 2023 coins will recognize the achievements of Bessie Coleman.
The Bessie Coleman Quarter is the sixth coin in the American Women Quarters™ Program. Bessie Coleman was the first African American and first Native American woman pilot. She was also the first African American to earn an international pilot’s license.
The obverse (heads) depicts a portrait of George Washington, originally composed and sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser to mark George Washington’s 200th birthday. A recommended design for the 1932 quarter, then-Treasury Secretary Mellon ultimately selected the familiar John Flanagan design.
The reverse (tails) depicts Bessie Coleman as she suits up in preparation for flight. Her expression is reflective of her determination to take to the skies, the only place she experienced a freedom she did not have on the ground.
Other women honored with quarters are Jovita Idar, Edith Kanakaʻole, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Maria Tallchief.
