Korean American Disability Rights Activist Engraved on U.S. Quarter
The U.S. Mint is issuing a quarter (25 cents) featuring the likeness of Korean American disability rights activist Stacey Park Milburn (1987–2020, Korean name Park Ji-hye).
On the 8th, the U.S. Mint officially announced that this special quarter will begin circulation on the 12th, after shipping to the Federal Reserve and coin terminals across the country.
The Stacey Park Milburn quarter is the 19th design in the "American Women Quarters Program," part of a special series that the U.S. Mint has been releasing since 2022 to honor the achievements of women pioneers, issuing five designs each year. The front of the coin traditionally features the face of America's first president, George Washington, while the back showcases a depiction of Milburn sitting in a motorized wheelchair, wearing glasses and giving a speech, symbolically representing her life dedicated to disability rights advocacy.
The image of Milburn sitting in a motorized wheelchair, wearing glasses and giving a speech
On the 13th, a special event hosted by the U.S. Mint will be held at the Warner Bros. Theater in the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., to honor Milburn's life and celebrate the coin's issuance.
This event will feature a performance by dancers in traditional hanbok, and as a highlight, there will be a special moment where 2000 new coins are poured from a Korean octagonal tray. This is expected to be a meaningful performance commemorating Milburn's dual cultural identity as both an American and a Korean.
A Short but Impactful Life Dedicated to Disability Rights
Stacey Park Milburn was born in 1987 as the eldest of three siblings to Joel Milburn, a U.S. Army soldier stationed in Korea, and his mother, Jin Milburn.
She was born with a degenerative muscle disease, but grew up with her parents' warm encouragement that "you are no different from other children."
A turning point in Milburn's life occurred when she experienced a fall in the fourth grade.
Recognizing that her body was different from others following this accident, she began documenting the inconveniences, injustices, and areas of improvement faced by individuals with disabilities on her personal blog. These writings resonated socially, drawing attention to her as a teenage disability rights activist.
In 2007, at the age of twenty, Milburn played a leading role in getting the North Carolina state government to include disability history in the public high school curriculum.
After graduating from Methodist University and Mills College, she moved to California, devoting herself to human rights advocacy for various marginalized groups, including people with disabilities, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. In recognition of her contributions, she was appointed as a policy advisor for individuals with intellectual disabilities by the Obama administration in 2014.
Unfortunately, Milburn passed away on May 19, 2020, her 33rd birthday, as her worsening kidney cancer complicated her efforts to deliver masks, emergency medical supplies, and hygiene products to marginalized communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Mint has announced plans to issue Milburn's quarter in quantities ranging from a minimum of 300 million to as many as 700 million.
Considering that quarters issued in the 1970s are still in circulation today, it is expected that Milburn's face will be part of Americans' daily lives for the next 50 years.
Additionally, this year's quarter designs include other women pioneers such as journalist and activist Ida B. Wells (1862–1931), Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low (1860–1927), astrophysicist Vera Rubin (1928–2016), and tennis player Althea Gibson (1927–2003).
Image credits: U.S. Mint, Stacey Park Milburn (Korean name Park Ji-hye) / National Women's History Museum
