The United States Mint has begun shipping a new quarter that honors the life and legacy of Stacey Park Milbern, a powerful activist for disability justice. The coin, which is part of the American Women Quarters Program, is a significant milestone for representation, as it is the first to feature a woman using a wheelchair.
Milbern, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, to a Korean mother and an American father, became an influential figure in the disability rights movement. She was born with muscular dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disease, and spent her teenage years organizing with other disabled people to advocate for human rights.
A Vision for Disability Justice
Milbern’s activism was rooted in the concept of “disability justice,” a framework she and fellow activists developed to promote the rights of people living at the intersection of disability and other marginalized identities, including people of colour, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community.
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In 2011, she moved to California’s Bay Area, a historic center for the disability rights movement, where she founded the Disability Justice Culture Club. In 2014, she was appointed by the Obama administration to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, where she provided policy advice.
The coin’s design, created by Artistic Infusion Program Designer Elana Hagler and sculpted by Mint Medallic Artist Craig A. Campbell, depicts Milbern speaking to an audience. The design’s intention is to reflect her “youth, purpose and compassion,” according to Kristie McNally, acting director of the United States Mint.
Breaking Barriers on a Coin
The quarter’s design has been praised for its groundbreaking portrayal of disability. Maria Town, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, noted that although President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has been featured on the dime since 1946, he is presented as a “disembodied head.” She emphasized that the new quarter, which shows Milbern’s “full body, her [tracheostomy tube] and her wheelchair as she is in active communication,” presents a “more realistic, version of disability than has ever been seen on U.S. currency.”
The quarter’s release was celebrated at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The event included a dance performance from the Di Dim Sae Korean Traditional Art Institute, in honor of Milbern’s Korean heritage.
Yomi Young, who worked with Milbern at the Berkeley Center for Independent Living, pointed out the irony of a coin commemorating Milbern’s work, given that anti-capitalism is a principle of disability justice.
However, she believes Milbern would have approved, seeing the quarter as a vehicle for a broader message. “As amazing as this coin is, it is not Stacey’s legacy. It is a spark. It is a question in someone’s hand, in someone’s coin purse. Somebody will look at this coin and say: ‘Who is she?’ And the answer will take them straight to her vision, her organizing, her liberation dreams,” Young said.
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Milbern died on her thirty-third birthday in 2020 from surgical complications related to kidney cancer. Her mother, Jean Milbern, reflected on her daughter’s legacy, stating, “Stacey being one of the American Women’s Quarter honorees was beyond our imagination. I want to give glory to God for enabling Stacey to accomplish great things.”
The American Women Quarters Program, authorised by public law, features coins with designs emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of extraordinary women. Milbern’s quarter is the fourth in a series of five that will be issued in 2025, honoring a diverse group of individuals who have shaped American society.
