US will have a woman of Asian origin in dollar currency for the first time

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The story of actress Anna May Wong already seems like something out of a movie. Obsessed with cinema since childhood in Los Angeles in the 1910s, she became the first international star of Asian origin and lived a turbulent trajectory. Now, to crown the journey, she will stamp quarters.

The United States Mint announced that it will start producing pieces with Wong’s face next Monday (24th). They are part of the American Women Quarters project, which places important women on the country’s currencies — the project began in January, with the image of writer and activist Maya Angelou.

Born Liu Tsong (willow frost) in 1905, she was given Anna May as a Western name — a common practice among Chinese immigrants like her grandparents, who moved to the US in the mid-19th century. cinema and see films that were recorded in the streets of the neighborhood.

Since childhood, he insisted on participating in some production and won his first role as an extra in 1919, in the silent film “The Red Lantern”, at age 14 – the production is carried out by a Russian actress made up to look Chinese. The leading role came three years later, in “The Toll of the Sea”.

Tired of fighting a system that privileged white actresses even for Asian roles (the “yellowface”), she moved to Europe in the late 1920s, where she became a sensation. She learned other languages ​​and starred in English, German and French productions. In the following decade, she would return to the USA.

Wong took to the stages of London and New York and, in cinema, participated in more than 60 films. One of her most remarkable achievements was being the first Asian-American to star in a TV show in the country, in the series “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong”, from 1951. The actress gained space on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. , a year before he died after a heart attack at age 56.

Now, there will be at least 300 million quarters with your face, represented with your hand under your chin. The pieces, made of a metal alloy of copper and nickel, weigh 5.7 grams and are 2.4 centimeters in diameter. On the other side, they show the face of the country’s first president, George Washington.

“Along with the hard work, determination and skill that Anna May Wong brought to the acting profession, it was her expressive face and gestures that really captivated film audiences, so I included those elements next to her name,” said the statement. designer Emily Damstra, who did the portrait.

The American Women Quarters project also features coins minted with the face of Wilma Mankiller, the first chief chief of the Cherokee nation, Adelina Otero-Warren, leader of the New Mexico suffragette movement, and Sally Ride, astronaut and physicist who was the first American to go to space.

There are four American dollar coins: 1, 5, 10 and 25 cents. They bring, on the one hand, images of former presidents Abraham Lincoln (since 1909), Thomas Jefferson (since 1938), Franklin D. Roosevelt (since 1946), and George Washington (since 1932), respectively.

On the other hand, the images vary over time, and the 25-cent ones have been chosen for commemorative editions. According to the Mint, from 1932 to 1998 the “crown” showed an eagle with open wings on a bundle of arrows, with olive branches below — although discontinued, this model is still commonly found.

In 1975 and 1976 a special edition was circulated in celebration of the Bicentennial of Independence, with a colonial drummer and a torch of victory surrounded by 13 stars, representing each of the original colonies.

From 1998 to 2008, the crown changed design five times a year as part of a program to celebrate the 50 states. In 2009, there were six changes, in an initiative to honor the District of Columbia and American territories. Following, from 2010 to 2021, 56 models showed off national parks and attractions as part of the Beautiful Quarters action.

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