Disability Activist To Be Featured On US Quarter

A prominent disability justice activist will soon appear on quarters issued by the U.S. Mint as part of a special program honoring notable American women.

Coins featuring Stacey Park Milbern will be available starting Aug. 12.

The U.S. Mint describes Milbern, who had congenital muscular dystrophy and died in 2020 at age 33, as a “visionary leader and powerful activist for people with disabilities.” Milbern was instrumental in pushing for a North Carolina law mandating a disability curriculum in schools and served on the state’s Independent Living Council and Commission for the Blind as well as the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities at the federal level. She was also known for advocating for those from marginalized communities and spoke out about disability discrimination in health care.

The quarter, which features the words “disability justice,” shows Milbern speaking to an audience while seated in a power wheelchair. She has one hand near her trach and her other with the palm facing up in a gesture that the U.S. Mint said is meant to promote the exchange of ideas and allyship. The coin was designed by Elana Hagler, an assistant professor of art at Alabama State University.

Like other quarters, a portrait of George Washington appears on the reverse side.

The new coin is part of the U.S. Mint’s American Women Quarters Program, a four-year effort that began in 2022 to honor 20 remarkable women.

More than 11,000 suggestions were submitted for the program during a public comment period. The U.S. Mint worked with experts from the Smithsonian Institution and the National Women’s History Museum to select honorees for the quarter series.

Quarters released through the program have featured civil rights activist Ida B. Wells, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, astronaut Sally Ride, writer Maya Angelou and Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts of America, among others.

“It’s a privilege for the Mint to connect America through coins, and to tell our nation’s story through honoring the women in this amazing program,” U.S. Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson said when the 2025 selections were initially announced. “The pioneering women we have recognized are among the many in our nation’s history who have made significant contributions and championed change in their own unique way.”