The U.S. Mint is just released a commemorative coin depicting Lady Liberty as African American to celebrate its 225th anniversary. The 24-carat coin shows Lady Liberty with a crown of stars. A soaring eagle and the inscriptions “United States of America” and “E Pluribus Unum”.
This comes less than a year after the decision was made to place freedom fighter Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. The Statue of Liberty is also known as “Lady Liberty” and, coincidence or not, there has been a long academic debate about whether the original version of the statue that was donated by France was actually a black woman wearing chains.
And a recent Smithsonian report says the model for the statue may have even been a Egyptian peasant. But, regardless of any argument or theory, the Lady Liberty that was recently printed on this new coin represents a recent trend of monuments, museums and currency design dedicated to immortalizing black imagery.
To that, I say ‘Well, it’s about damn time.’
