Celia Cruz will be first Afro-Latina on U.S. currency

FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2002 file photo, Cuba's Celia Cruz arrives for a tribute in honor of Mexico's Vicente Fernandez as the 2002 Latin Recording Academy person of the year in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Telemundo will air the first episode of "Celia", based on the life of Cuban singer Celia Cruz, on October 13. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File) (KEVORK DJANSEZIAN, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.)

“The Queen of Salsa” has earned a special place in history. Celia Cruz is one of five honorees to be selected for the 2024 American Women Quarters Program.

Celia Cruz, also known as Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso, died in 2003. Cruz was one of the 20th century’s most well-known Latin performers and won five Grammy Awards, a National Medal of Arts and a posthumous Grammy for Lifetime Achievement.

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The Cuban icon will have her likeness engraved on a quarter beginning in 2024 along with Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War era surgeon and abolitionist; Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first woman of color to serve in Congress; Pauli Murray, a poet, lawyer and activist who fought against racial and sex discrimination; and Zitkala-Ša (meaning “Red Bird”), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, who was a political activist for Native Americans’ rights.

The U.S. Mint created the American Women Quarters program to feature women who have contributed to a variety of fields, including, but not limited to, suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts.

The four-year program will issue five new designs each year from 2022 through 2025.

To shop for your coins, click on this link.


About the Author
Veronica Crespo headshot

Veronica Crespo writes for Local10.com and also oversees the Español section of the website. Born and raised in Miami, she graduated from the University of Miami, where she studied broadcast journalism and Spanish.

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