After waiting so many years, the Asian community will be represented on U.S. currency, with Anna May Wong being placed on the quarter.
Wong is Hollywood’s first Chinese American actress and fought for the rights of Asian representation in the Hollywood film industry. When Wong starred in movies, the film industry underpaid her and gave her roles playing a stereotypical Chinese murderous villain.
Cheri-Ann Inouye, a fall 2021 graduate majoring in business administration with a concentration in marketing stated, “I personally think it would be amazing! Seeing some sort of representation of me on U.S. currency OR anywhere in the United States would be so much more empowering for the younger generations. The United States has gone a long time mainly showing one representation— the newer generations will definitely be impacted.”
During the early 1900s, Wong had a difficult time landing roles because white people wore “yellowface,” wearing makeup to imitate Asian skin tone. To the film industry there was no point of using people of color because they already had someone mimicking and impersonating them.
“It’s always comforting to see representation in our society, especially being an Asian American woman in the US.” said Mikayla Cessoli Oteyeza, a spring 2022 graduate who majored in early childhood studies. She continued, “I think that there needs to be a lot more strategies and improvements to our society to normalize diversity through culture, gender, religion. This is a step in the right direction.”
Representing people of color in our society is something that we need to improve on. Seeing a variety of different people anywhere is inspiring because it shows that anyone can overcome their challenges and through time things will get better even if it may not seem like it.
She is the fifth woman to be on the coin through the American Quarters Program, which is a four-year program that commemorates the contributions and accomplishments made by women in the US; starting in the beginning of 2022 and continuing on until 2025. One side has the name along with a picture of the woman and the back contains a George Washington design different from the usual quarters.
Women they have chosen have made an impact in aspects such as arts, science, government, suffrage, and civil rights. The women being honored will be from racially, ethnically, and diverse backgrounds. The previous women who were engraved on the quarter are Maya Angelou, Dr. Sally Ride, Wilma Mankiller and Nina Otero-Warren.
In a 1933 interview with Los Angeles Time, Wong said, “Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the villain of the piece, and so cruel a villain — murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass, we are not like that.” After suffering through a lot of racism in the Hollywood film industry, she decided to pack her bags, moved to Europe and starred in English, French, and German films.
Whenever a person of color is represented in society it’s always a big accomplishment. It took a long time to place an Asian American woman on the coin and it comes across as if the US is trying to compensate for the discrimination and racism Wong has faced. These quarters are a small step towards proper representation in the U.S.
