Celia Cruz is the first Afro-Latina on U.S. currency

The Queen of Salsa and Cuban icon Celia Cruz has become the first Afro-Latina to appear on U.S. currency as part of the American Women Quarters Program. (Courtesy: U.S. Mint)

“The Queen of Salsa” has earned a special place in history. Celia Cruz is one of five honorees to be selected for the 2024 American Women Quarters Program, now available for purchase.

Celia Cruz, also known as Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso, died in 2003. Cruz was one of the 20th century’s most well-known Latin performers and won five Grammy Awards, a National Medal of Arts and a posthumous Grammy for Lifetime Achievement.

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The Cuban icon will have her likeness engraved on a quarter beginning in 2024 along with Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War era surgeon and abolitionist; Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first woman of color to serve in Congress; Pauli Murray, a poet, lawyer and activist who fought against racial and sex discrimination; and Zitkala-Ša (meaning “Red Bird”), also known as Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, who was a political activist for Native Americans’ rights.

The U.S. Mint created the American Women Quarters program to feature women who have contributed to a variety of fields, including, but not limited to, suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts.

The four-year program will issue five new designs each year from 2022 through 2025.

To shop for your coins, click on this link.


About the Author
Veronica Crespo headshot

Veronica Crespo writes for Local10.com and also oversees the Español section of the website. Born and raised in Miami, she graduated from the University of Miami, where she studied broadcast journalism and Spanish.

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