On July 4th 2026, thousands of people will plan to gather around the tall fences of the White House, red, white and blue flowers neatly planted around the iconic North Fountain, in celebration of an iconic Independence Day: the United States Semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
The White House has officially launched the full year of festivities from Memorial Day 2025 to July 4th 2026. One part of these festivities includes introducing new quarter designs to celebrate the anniversary.
According to The US Mint department, each quarter will depict either a pilgrim couple, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, or Abraham Lincoln, along with two of the quarters depicting Lady Liberty as the Statue of Liberty. This is contrasting with the Biden Administration’s choice to depict Fredrick Douglas and Ruby Bridges, representing suffrage for the people of color in America.
The change in designs from the original diverse cast of pioneers in American history to people who have already been on U.S. currency, and are well celebrated in history books, is jarring and shows a lack of diversity despite the wide array of people in America’s history books.
The U.S. Mint’s website states the artists created the coins based on guidance from federal advisors and stakeholders within the Mint’s Artistic Infusion Program.
“We don’t need to give credit to only a little group of people when there’s others out there that deserve credit for the things they’ve done,” 10th grade Keaton Sharp said.
While it can be important to celebrate the sacrifices made by soliders of all kinds, not just the white male ones; but also the heroes behind the scenes, including the women and people of color fighting for freedom.
Daughters of the Revolution is one of these groups who are trying to shine a spotlight on the battles of some of the lesser-known fighters for the United State’s freedom; in particular, the ladies of the Revolution.
Many women of great worth have fought in political and physical battles to help this country. Martha Washington, the original First Lady of the United States and wife to Georgie Washington, learned to read and write at a young age and used these skills to read and write letters. When George was General in the continental army during the American Revolution, Marth managed the Washington house when he was away and even spent brutal winters on the front lines with her husband to provide support, such as mending clothes, raising money for troops and boosting morale. While George’s sacrifices will always be commemorated, Martha deserves a similar level of recognition.
The DAR works to celebrate many other women of the revolution such as Abigail Adams, a writer and trailblazer. Or Phyllis Wheatley, a poet and writer, considered the first African American woman to publish a book. Or Betsy Roos, the seamstress who created the first American flag, continued to support the Revolution through creation of more flags and other cloth. Or Mercy Otis Warren, known as the “Conscience of the Revolution” being quite the intellectual, being a historian and storyteller, pushing her knowledge to push the Revolution forward.
While commemorating historical figures is always important, sometimes it’s done to the detriment of other political figures.
The Trump Administration has been blamed for changing the diverse cast of people on the quarters, such as Ruby Bridges, the young girl who helped promote mixed public schools and continued to be a role-model for African American respect, and Frederick Douglass, a writer, who helped spread the word of abolitionist across America, to pioneers already on USA currency.
The Trump administration took over the production of the coins and the Washington Post stated that the Trump Administration would, “ignore the committee’s [Biden Administration] recommendation and produce quarters that are far less diverse and more traditional”
Additionally the White House said in an interview, “the [Biden Administration designs] focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory. [Trump Administration] seeks to frame any focus on the knottier moments in the nation’s arc as ‘wokeness’”.
Despite the White House’s statement to focus on the less “problematic” of the USA’s historical figures it seems to forget that all of America’s pioneers have been problematic in one way or another, usually due to their opinions on women’s suffrage and people of color’s freedom and suffrage.
Even not taking the Biden Administration’s suggestions of people to but on the quarter there are plenty of American heroes from other generations and even more diverse, (suggested by other news websites?) such as; Martin Luther King Jr. a well known black man who fought for non-violent protest against segregation, or Rosa Parks a young lady of color who heavily participated in Protest for the Jim Crow laws, or Susan B. Anthony a speaker and organizer in fight for women’s suffrage, or Septima Poinsette Clark a black teachers a big fighter for mixed schools, or Wilhelmina Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett fought for Hawai’i and women’s rights, or Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee a Chinese immigrant who fought for not just the 19th amendment but for support of immigrants [willful or not] and their rights, or Jeannette Rankin the first women to be voted into congress, or even Tye Leung Schulze a chinese women who fought for women’s suffrage and segregation based on race, and who would be the first Chinese person to vote in a democratic election.
The Trump Administration has even more diverse women and men, chinese, black, or hispanic who have done just as much in fighting for the freedom of all Americans/ The Trump administration’s lack of diversity also plays a part in the outcry from Trump’s choice to put his own face on a coin, while no designs have been finalized for a Trump coin, it is still important that there won’t be, as the 250th celebration is in honor of the History of America, and everybody depicted on the coins has long been dead. The act of putting a living president on a historical coin can only be bad news.
Kim Reese, a USA history teacher said, ”The intention of the Federal law prohibiting a living president from being on currency traces back to the idea that it would seem monarchial.”
