Salsa legend Celia Cruz, who died in 2003, has made history again. This time she was chosen to appear on the quarter dollar coin in 2024. She will be the first Afro-Latina to be selected for this tribute, reported EFE.
The US television network ABC News reported that Cruz, born in Havana in 1925, has been selected by the US Mint. Specifically, in its initiative "American Women Quarters Program."
The program, which takes place between 2022 and 2025, involves the issuance of 25-cent pieces each year. They pay tribute to five "ethnically, racially and geographically diverse" women. Relevant figures in the field of civil rights, science, government, arts or space, among others, are taken into account.
Joining Cruz will be Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first non-white woman to serve in the US Congress; Mary Edwards, surgeon, civil rights activist, and abolitionist; Reverend Pauli Murray, poet, writer, and lawyer; and Zitkala-Sa, known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, a writer, composer, and Native American rights activist.
On the other hand, the designs for the 2024 quarter-dollar coins will be released in mid-2023.
Why Celia Cruz?
Cruz began singing in his native Cuba in one of the most popular orchestras of the time, Sonora Matancera. After the revolution on the island between 1953 and 1959, Cruz emigrated to the US in 1961. From there he helped define the sound of salsa as it is understood today.
Throughout his career of more than six decades, Cruz left his personal mark on the stage with energetic performances, his powerful voice and a commanding presence.
The "queen of salsa" passed away in 2003 at the age of 77.
