US Quarter design unveiled featuring the late US Rep. Patsy Takemoto Mink of Maui

The late US Congresswoman, Patsy Takemoto Mink of Maui, is among five women being featured on a new US quarter design.  The design was unveiled this week by the US Mint.

The Patsy Takemoto Mink Quarter is the 12th coin in the American Women Quarters Program, and one of five being released in 2024.  

The program began in 2022, and continues through 2025, with the US Mint issuing five quarters in each of these years.

The design features Mink holding her landmark “TITLE IX” legislation. She is standing in front of the US Capitol Building, which prominently features the south wing, home to the US House of Representatives, where Mink served. “The lei she wears represents her home state of Hawaiʻi,” according to the US Mint.

Last year marked the milestone 50th anniversary of Mink’s Title IX legislation that ensures access, equality, and justice for women in both academics and athletics.

Maui’s own Patsy Mink co-authored the amendment, which passed in 1972, and was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in her honor in 2022.

Mink was born and raised in Hamakuapoko, Maui, and is described by many as a “trailblazer,” for her tenacity, leadership, and persistence.

She accomplished many firsts, including recognition as the first Japanese-American woman to practice law in Hawaiʻi, and becoming the first Asian American and woman of color elected to serve in Congress in 1964.

While in Congress, Mink fought for gender and racial equality, affordable childcare and environmental protection.

In 2014, Mink was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, for her contributions to the US.

Mink is the second woman from Hawaiʻi to be chosen by the “American Women Quarters” program.  The first was kumu hula Edith Kanakaʻole whose quarter was released into circulation earlier this year.

The American Women Quarters™ Program features coins with reverse designs “emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of trailblazing American women.”

“The ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse group of individuals honored through this program reflects a wide range of accomplishments and fields, including suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space and the arts,” according to the US Mint.

Others recognized in the 2024 collection are: Reverend Dr. Pauli Murray, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Celia Cruz, and Zitkala-Ša.