公民権運動家マヤ・アンジェロウ氏の２５セント硬貨発行　米

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米国で、アフリカ系米国人作家で公民権運動家のマヤ・アンジェロウ氏の肖像を使った２５セント硬貨が発行された。造幣局は１０日、硬貨の流通が始まったと発表した。（写真はマヤ・アンジェロウ氏の肖像をあしらった米２５セント硬貨。米造幣局提供）
　「歌え、翔べない鳥たちよ」の著作でも知られるアンジェロウ氏は、昨年１月に法制化された「米国人女性２５セント硬貨プログラム」で採用。同氏の硬貨はその第一弾となった。
　同プログラムでは、２０２２年から２０２５年まで、米国に貢献した先駆的な女性５人の肖像を採り入れた２５セント硬貨が毎年、発行される。
　新硬貨の表側はこれまでと変わらず初代大統領のジョージ・ワシントン、裏側にアンジェロウ氏の肖像があしらわれている。
　今年、この栄誉を受ける残りの４人は、米国人女性初の宇宙飛行士サリー・ライド氏、米先民自治政府「チェロキー・ネイション」初の女性首長ウィルマ・マンキラー氏、ニューメキシコ州で女性の参政権運動を主導したニナ・オテロウォーレン氏、中国系米国人の映画スター、アナ・メイ・ウォン氏となっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/01/13-12:06）

Poet and activist Maya Angelou has become the first Black woman to appear on the US quarter, in a new version of the coin unveiled by the US Mint on Monday.
Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, will also be the first figure commemorated through the American Women Quarters Program, 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 honor to present our nation's first circulating coins dedicated to celebrating American women and their contributions to American history, said Mint Deputy Director Ventris Gibson.
Each 2022 quarter is designed to reflect the breadth and depth of accomplishments being celebrated throughout this historic coin program. Maya Angelou, featured on the reverse of this first coin in the series, used words to inspire and uplift.
The program directs the US Mint to issue quarters each year between 2022 and 2025 featuring five different female American trailblazers.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she was proud that these coins celebrate the contributions of some of America's most remarkable women.
Each time we redesign our currency, we have the chance to say something about our country -- what we value, and how we've progressed as a society, she said in a statement.
For much of the last 90 years the quarter has depicted the first US president, George Washington, on one side and an eagle on the other.
In 1999 the US launched a series of quarters honoring the 50 states, with a state's design depicted on the coin's reverse. The program was expanded to include US territories and national parks.
The new quarters -- which have been minted in Philadelphia and Denver -- show Washington on one side and Angelou on the other.
The other figures set to appear on the coin in 2022 are: Sally Ride, the first American woman in space; Wilma Mankiller, first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation; Nina Otero-Warren, a suffrage leader; and Anna May Wong, a Chinese-American film star.
- 'Legacy honored' -
Born in Missouri in 1928, Angelou was an essayist and poet who worked with civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
Angelou, who delivered the poem at Bill Clinton's first presidential inauguration, died in 2014.
Yellen has also signaled support for recognizing former slave and abolitionist Harriet Tubman on US currency.
Former president Barack Obama launched an effort to put Tubman's face on the $20 bill but it stalled under Donald Trump's administration.
Putting Tubman, a Black woman who escaped slavery and became a leader of the pre-Civil War abolitionist movement, on the bill would be an honor but designing banknotes takes time, Yellen said in September.
Many US lawmakers celebrated the release of the Angelou quarters, including congresswoman Ayanna Pressley.
Black women have historically done the most for our country while receiving the least recognition, the Massachusetts Democrat tweeted. Glad to see Maya Angelou, a shero of mine, have her legacy honored.