Celia Cruz’s legacy commemorated on US currency

The Cuban legend Celia Cruz has received the honor of appearing on U.S. currency, with her face set to appear on the U.S. quarter, according to the U.S. mint.

Cruz was previously commemorated on a US postage stamp as part of the Latin Music Legends Series in 2011.

The honor is part of the American Women Quarters Program, a four-year program that celebrates the achievements of American women. The program began in 2022 and will conclude in 2025. The likeness of the honored women will appear on the reverse side of the quarter, opposite a design of George Washington created just for the program.

The Queen of Salsa, as she is known, will be one of five women recognized in 2024, along with Pauli Murray, a poet, writer, lawyer, activist, and Episcopal priest, Patsy Takemoto Mink, who was the first woman of color to serve in congress, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, an abolitionist, Civil war era surgeon, and women’s rights activist, as well as Zitkala-Ša, a Dakota writer, musician, educator, and political activist.

The selection process

The honorees for the American Women Quarters Program are selected via input from three different groups, the Smithsonian Institution’s American Women’s History Initiative, the National Women’s History Museum, and the Congressional Bipartisan Women’s Caucus. The public was later invited to offer recommendations on who they thought should be honored in the program.

From there, a pool of concepts is created “that include, but are not limited to, suffrage, civil rights, the abolitionist movement, government, science, space, and arts, and should honor women from ethnically and geographically diverse backgrounds.”

A legendary Latin-American artist

Celia Cruz began her career in 1947, singing in numerous famous Havana nightclubs, including the Tropicana, Sans Souci, Bamboo, and Topeka.

In the 1950s, she was a member of the group La Sonora Matancera, making a name for herself when she became the group’s lead singer. She stayed with the group for 15 years before the Cuban Revolution resulted in the group disbanding. The regime disapproved of the group traveling outside of Cuba to perform their shows.

She went on to lead a successful solo career, spanning six decades, earning her the title of ‘Queen of Salsa.’ Her hit songs have become memorable and recognizable even to non-Latin Americans, and include ‘La Vida Es Un Carnaval,’ ‘La Negra Tiene Tumbao,’ and ‘Químbara.’

She passed away on July 16, 2003.