Following Request from Hirono, U.S. Mint Announces Quarter Honoring Patsy T. Mink

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) applauded the U.S. Mint’s announcement that its 2024 American Women Quarters collection will include a quarter honoring Rep. Patsy T. Mink, the first woman to represent Hawaii in the U.S. Congress and the first woman of color to serve in Congress. The announcement follows a letter Senator Hirono sent to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in 2021 urging the Mint to include the late Congresswoman Mink in the American Women Quarters Program, as well as Edith Kanakaole, whose commemorative quarter is scheduled to be put into circulation later this year.

“Patsy Mink was a champion for social justice, equality, and civil rights—she was a trailblazer in every sense of the word,” said Senator Hirono. “As the first woman of color to serve in Congress and a lead author of Title IX, Congresswoman Mink worked to ensure that all women in our country have every opportunity men have. I’m glad to see the Mint honoring Rep. Mink as part of the American Women Quarters Program so that people all across our country can learn more about her immeasurable contributions to Hawaii and our nation.”

Authorized by  the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, the American Women Quarters Program features coins with designs emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of prominent American women. Contributions come from a wide spectrum of fields including, but not limited to, suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts. The women honored come from ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds. As required by the law, no living person will be featured in the coin designs, and thus all the women honored must be deceased. The Mint is issuing five coins with different reverse designs annually over the four-year period from 2022 through 2025.

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