Speaker 1: Right now, though, It's time for the Way Black History
Speaker 1: Fact and Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by
Speaker 1: Major Threads. For innovative, fashionable sportswear. Checkmajor threads dot com. Today,
Speaker 1: I'm going to share with you a bit from Time magazine. First,
Speaker 1: so I'll start here. The limited edition Celia Cruz quoters
Speaker 1: are officially in circulation starting Monday, the first US coins
Speaker 1: to feature an Afro Latina figure. So this is kind
Speaker 1: of ebony excellence, kind of way Black History fact that'll
Speaker 1: come later. Give me a second, all right. Cruz, the
Speaker 1: four time Latin Grammy Award winner known for her salsa
Speaker 1: hits including Lavida Essuna Carnival and La Negratienne Tumbao, was
Speaker 1: selected as one of twenty women whose image will appear
Speaker 1: on the back of a quarter as part of the
Speaker 1: American Women's Quarters Program AWQP. Other twenty twenty four recipients
Speaker 1: include doctor Mary Edwards Walker, a surgeon an abolitionist, and
Speaker 1: Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first Asian American woman to serve
Speaker 1: in Congress. The Elizabeth C. Babcock, director of the Smithsonian
Speaker 1: American Women's History Museum, says the AWQP is another way
Speaker 1: to document history. Quote, it's been an absolutely amazing opportunity
Speaker 1: for us to help in our mission, which is to
Speaker 1: make sure that as we think about American history, we
Speaker 1: tell the complete history, which obviously includes the story of
Speaker 1: the many ways women have been a part of our
Speaker 1: history and continue being involved unquote, she says. The US
Speaker 1: Mint says they cannot predict the exact amount of Celiacruz
Speaker 1: quarters they will ship out, as that depends on orders
Speaker 1: they receive from the Federal Reserve, but they say typically
Speaker 1: they produce anywhere between two hundred and five hundred million
Speaker 1: of each quarter. Quarters with the Queen of Salsa are
Speaker 1: only going to be made for a limited time until
Speaker 1: mid October. Quote. We will continue to mint Seliacruz quarters
Speaker 1: until we transition to our next honoree. After that, no
Speaker 1: more Celiacruz quarters will be minted. Women have long been
Speaker 1: underrepresented when it comes to national currency. The first woman
Speaker 1: to be featured on a US coin was Spanish Queen
Speaker 1: Isabella in eighteen ninety three, though the next coin with
Speaker 1: a female figure would not come again until nineteen seventy nine,
Speaker 1: per the US Mint. To combat this, Congress passed the
Speaker 1: Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of twenty twenty, which are
Speaker 1: authorized the US meant to create new designs on the
Speaker 1: quarter dollar coin to commemorate five American women a year.
Speaker 1: That program has been running since twenty twenty two and
Speaker 1: will come to an end in twenty twenty five, and
Speaker 1: the next reading comes from US mint dot Org. In
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four, Cruz joined a new record label, Fania,
Speaker 1: which was devoted solely to the genre she was in.
Speaker 1: She was the only woman in the Fania All Stars
Speaker 1: and one of few women to succeed in the male
Speaker 1: dominated salsa world. She also appeared in several Hollywood movies
Speaker 1: and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Speaker 1: Cruz's numerous honors and awards include four Latin Grammy Awards,
Speaker 1: a Presidential Medal of Arts, and three Grammy Awards, including
Speaker 1: posthumous Lifetime Achievement Grammy. She was inducted into Billboard's Latin
Speaker 1: Music Hall of Fame and the International Latin Music Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. Celia Cruz died in New Jersey on July sixteen,
Speaker 1: two thousand and three. Her song's performances and spirit remained
Speaker 1: international treasures Cruz's influence reached well beyond her music. She
Speaker 1: was and is a cultural icon celebrating her Cuban culture,
Speaker 1: which helped her other April Latino Americans embrace their heritage.
Speaker 1: I want to share something with you that maybe I
Speaker 1: haven't shared on the show, but my grandma's from Cuba
Speaker 1: and Celyi Acruz is her and her being on a
Speaker 1: quarter is something that I wish my grandma could have
Speaker 1: lived to see. So this is indeed ebony excellence. This
Speaker 1: is of course a way Black history fact. And if
Speaker 1: you get a chance to listen to some of Celia A.
Speaker 1: Cruz's music, especially Labina essnor Carnovo, which is kind of
Speaker 1: the big song that she's known for, it's such a
Speaker 1: happy song and it's such a danceable song if you're
Speaker 1: into dancing, and you don't have to be good at dancing,
Speaker 1: but it's a really good song. And if you hear it,
Speaker 1: you'll know it because it's when they say she's a
Speaker 1: cultural icon, she absolutely is. So as soon as you
Speaker 1: hear the first few notes, you'll be like, oh, I
Speaker 1: know this song. This is a great song. She's the
Speaker 1: one singing it, and we're happy to be able to
Speaker 1: share this with you today