HONOLULU — On Monday, Senator Mazie K. Hirono, announced the release of a new commemorative quarter design honoring Edith Kanaka‘ole. The quarter’s design is one of five released today by the United States Mint honoring prominent women in American history, including Bessie Coleman, Jovita Idar, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Maria Tallchief, as part of the Mint’s American Women Quarters Program. Senator Hirono previously urged the Mint to include Kanaka‘ole as one of the women highlighted.
“Edith Kanaka‘ole was a prominent leader in the revitalization of Hawaiian language and culture—notably as a renowned kumu hula,” said Senator Hirono. “She helped preserve and spread Hawaiian language, traditions, and history, contributing so much to the Native Hawaiian community, Hawai‘i, and our nation. It is fitting that she be honored with this special recognition. I’m pleased to see the design for her commemorative quarter today, and I look forward to seeing these quarters put into circulation, so that people in every corner of our country can learn more about Edith Kanaka‘ole and her remarkable life.”
“The late Edith Kanaka’ole stood as symbol of the Hawaiian renaissance of the 1970s, helping to preserve and then educate the world on our culture, language, practices, and history. A legendary kumu hula, chanter, historian, and educator, Edith Kanaka‘ole is now the first Native Hawaiian woman to be featured as a part of the 2023 American Women Quarters Program. There is no one more deserving of this honor, and we mahalo the U.S. Mint for recognizing the many contributions she made to her people, her state, the nation, and the world,” said OHA Board Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey statement. “It is so appropriate that her famous chant “E ho mai ka ‘ike, Grant us knowledge” is inscribed on the coin, marking her legacy which continues today through the outstanding work of the Edith Kanaka‘ole Foundation. I have been personally touched by the legacy of this great Hawaiian woman, as I was raised with Aunty Edith in Keaukaha — she was my Sunday school teacher in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Keaukaha branch, where her husband Luka Kanaka’ole served as our branch president.
“Although she passed in 1990, Edith Kanaka‘ole‘s voice still resonates today, as we are reminded of her lessons to her students when she became an instructor at University of Hawai‘i – Hilo — maintain your studies and earn your degree; know who you are as Hawaiians; and always elevate the status of the lahui. Let us all continue her work to Ho‘oulu Lahui Aloha, to raise a beloved lahui,” continued Lindsey
Authorized by the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, the American Women Quarters Program features coins with designs emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of prominent American women. Contributions come from a wide spectrum of fields including, but not limited to, suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts. The women honored come from ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse backgrounds.
Four other women trailblazers will be honored by the 2023 American Women Quarters program; former First Lady and first chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights Eleanor Roosevelt; first African American and first Native American woman pilot Bessie Coleman; Mexican American journalist Jovita Idar; and Maria Tallchief, a Native American and America‘s first major prima ballerina.
As required by the law, no living person will be featured in the coin designs, and thus all the women honored must be deceased.
The Mint is issuing five coins with different reverse designs annually over the four-year period from 2022 through 2025.
