The first circulating 2024 American Women Quarters will be shipped out of the United States Mint starting January 2. Struck by the Philadelphia and Denver mints, they commemorate the Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray, one of the most important civil rights advocates of the 20th century.
In addition to being a fervent activist for civil rights, Murray was a writer and poet, a lawyer, and even an Episcopal priest. Her life circumstances and experiences led her to see the common traits of both racial and sexual discrimination. She published the landmark book States’ Laws on Race and Color in 1950, and its critical analysis of segregation laws around the country would acknowledgedly serve as a foundation for legal arguments in the historic Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.
The Dr. Pauli Murray quarters should begin to find their way to local banks near you later in January or early in February.
Design of the Dr. Pauli Murray 2024 American Women Quarter
Every year from 2022 through 2025, as authorized by the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-330 – PDF Link), the U.S. Mint issues five quarters with reverse designs that celebrate the important social, cultural, political, and scientific accomplishments of a diverse selection of notable American women. In this case, the Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray is seen through the letters of the word “HOPE”, with the inscription A SONG IN A WEARY THROAT–from her poem “Dark Testament” (1944)–superimposed over the P and the E. Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) Artist Emily Damstra designed the reverse, while Mint Chief Engraver Joseph Menna sculpted it.
The obverse, which features the Laura Gardin Fraser effigy she created to mark the bicentennial of Founding Father George Washington’s birthday in 1932 but which was ultimately passed over in favor of the John Flanagan design we have known ever since. The Gardin Fraser Washington obverse is common to all coins in the American Women Quarters Program. Legally mandated inscriptions include the legend LIBERTY, the motto IN GOD WE TRUST, and the date 2024.
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