The coin honoring the pioneering Anna May Wong keeps showing up in my change. But why? | Opinion

Check the change in your pocket for quarters. Do you have one with a woman on the back?

If you do, it’s probably part of the American Women Quarters Program, started in 2022 and continuing through 2025, to feature important women in history. And, if you’re like me, you’ve got an Anna May Wong among your change.

I’ve run into quarters with Wong a lot recently here in Kansas City. It’s a beautifully carved closeup of the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood. I don’t know why I seem to have run into them. She’s just one of a list of women minted in the project.

Looking at the list, there are those whose images are represented in quarters that I’ve never seen, such as Sally Ride — physicist, astronaut, educator and the first American woman in space — and Wilma Mankiller — the first woman elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. All were minted on coins in 2022 like Wong.

TEN Magazine, a quarterly publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, published an article when the American Women Quarters Program launched. It called the program “a four-year initiative celebrating several women who left their marks on the country’s history through leadership, innovation and cultural change.”

The U.S. Mint has issued five new quarter designs with different famous women each year, and plans to continue in 2025, its final year of production.

So why am I seeing so much Wong in 2024? I called the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and spoke to Bill Medley, public information officer. He told me it’s difficult, if not impossible, to track circulation of the quarters.

“We don’t have any information about a specific quarter’s circulation,” he said. That means we don’t know when and where a quarter will show up. But it just seems weird to me, and made me want to know more about Wong.

I don’t have an answer to this mystery, but I do have a couple of Wong-Kansas City connections.

The Federal Reserve Bank held an exhibit on display in 2022 at the Kansas City Money Museum featuring the five women in that year’s issue of quarters, including Wong and her philatelic sisters: Maya Angelou, Sally Ride, Wilma Mankiller and Nina Otero-Warren, New Mexico suffrage leader and first woman superintendent of Santa Fe public schools. The Money Museum is free and self-guided.

Also that year, a photo of Wong was displayed at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. It’s a slick, cool headshot image of Wong in a tall hat (and maybe tails?) sipping a glass of champagne.

Turns out, the Nelson-Atkins has exhibited the picture of Wong, taken by photographer Carl Van Vechten, a few times: Dec. 6, 1992 to January 10, 1993; March 8 to June 15, 2008; May 15 to October 10, 2010 and more recently, in October 2021 through April 2022.

It’s not the only classic image of Wong, Kathleen Leighton, manager of media relations and video production for the Nelson-Atkins, told me. She said photographer Edward Steichen made a well-known series of fashion portraits of her in 1930 to 1931 when he worked at Conde Nast, “but we do not own any of those, unfortunately.”

So, here’s to Anna May Wong, may she be forever portrayed in copper and nickel.

Read the complete list of all the women honorees of the American Women Quarters Program, courtesy of USMint.gov. Personally, I can’t wait until next year’s Ida B. Wells. Who’s your favorite?

2022

Maya Angelou — celebrated writer, performer, and social activist

Sally Ride — physicist, astronaut, educator, and first American woman in space

Wilma Mankiller — first woman elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation

Nina Otero-Warren — suffrage leader and the first woman superintendent of Santa Fe public schools

Anna May Wong — first Chinese American film star in Hollywood

2023

Bessie Coleman — first African American and first Native American woman licensed pilot

Edith Kanaka’ole — indigenous Hawaiian composer, custodian of native culture and traditions

Eleanor Roosevelt — leader, reformer, first lady, and author

Jovita Idar — Mexican-American journalist, activist, teacher, and suffragist

Maria Tallchief — America’s first prima ballerina

2024

Pauli Murray — poet, writer, activist, lawyer, and Episcopal priest

Patsy Takemoto Mink — first woman of color to serve in Congress

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker — Civil War era surgeon, women’s rights and dress reform advocate

Celia Cruz — Cuban-American singer, cultural icon, and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century

Zitkala-Sa — writer, composer, educator, and political activist

2025

Ida B. Wells — investigative journalist, suffragist, and civil rights activist

Juliette Gordon Low — founder of Girl Scouts of the United States of America

Dr. Vera Rubin — astronomer who pioneered work on galaxy rotation

Stacey Park Milbern — activist for people with disabilities

Althea Gibson — multi-sport athlete and first Black athlete to break the color barrier at the highest level in tennis

The Money Museum is located at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, 1 Memorial Drive, Kansas City.