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Maya Angelou died in 2014
Photo: Gerald Herbert / AP
Former First Lady Michelle Obama is delighted that the writer Maya Angelou is the first black woman to be honored with a 25-cent coin.
"What a fitting recognition," wrote the 57-year-old on Instagram.
"She was a phenomenal woman."
The responsible authority United States Mint published a picture of the new quarter coin with Angelou's portrait for the first time on Monday.
The first copies have already been put into circulation, it said.
The coins with Angelou's image are the first from the so-called "American Women Quarters Program", which is intended to honor "American women and their contributions to American history" by 2025.
Friends with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X
Maya Angelou (1928-2014) is one of the most widely read authors in the USA. Her best-known work is the autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969. In it she tells of her childhood memories in the rural south, her rape as a child and her pregnancy as a teenager. She also wrote poetry, worked as a journalist, actress and director. She was also the first female black streetcar attendant in San Francisco.
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, one of the highest civilian awards in the United States.
She died in 2014 at the age of 86.
Obama recalled Angelou's poem "Phenomenal Woman" in particular in her post: "She celebrated the beauty of a black woman in a way that no one had dared to do before." Angelou had "created an anthem for all women."
The former first lady shared a photo of herself in front of a portrait of the author and civil rights activist.
bam / dpa
