Maya Angelou: Writer and civil rights activist is the first black woman to pay for a US quarter dollar coin

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New quarter dollar coin with Maya Angelou

Photo: HANDOUT / AFP

Some quarter-dollar coins, so-called "quarters", will in future show the image of the American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.

The extradition has started, as reported by the United States Mint.

Further coin designs with prominent American women are planned.

With Maya Angelou, a black woman can be seen in a quarter for the first time.

She has "inspired generations of Americans with her brilliance and her artistic work," said US MP Barbara Lee, who introduced the bill.

Angelou, born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, is one of the most widely read authors in the USA.

She became known in 1969 with her childhood memories "I know that the captured bird sings".

In the title she tells of her experiences during the years of racial segregation.

From 1959 Angelou worked with Martin Luther King and became an important figure in the civil rights struggle.

She was friends with Malcolm X too.

In 2010 Angelou received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then US President Barack Obama, one of the highest civilian awards in the USA.

She died in 2014 at the age of 86.

The new coin depicts Angelou with outspread arms.

Behind her you can see a flying bird and a rising sun.

The US Treasury Department wrote on Twitter that the motif was "inspired by [Angelous] poetry" and "symbolic of their way of life".

The US mint plans to issue 20 more quarter-dollar coins over the next four years featuring American women who have played an important role in the country's history. Coins for Sally Ride, the first female US astronaut, are also planned for this year. Also Wilma Mankiller, writer and campaigner for the rights of the Cherokee, and Anna May Wong, who is considered the first Chinese-American film star in Hollywood.

Shortly after Joe Biden took office, the US government announced that it would exchange the portrait of President Andrew Jackson on the $ 20 bill.

Jackson was a slave owner.

According to a public survey, Harriet Tubman should replace him, who was a slave in her youth and later became an activist for the Underground Railroad organization.

However, since the announcement, the US government has not released any further details about its plans.

ime / AP