WASHINGTON - The United States Mint said Monday it has begun shipping quarters featuring the image of poet Maya Angelou, the first coins in its American Women Quarters Program.

Ms. Angelou, an American author, poet and civil rights activist, rose to prominence with the publication of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” in 1969. Ms. Angelou, who died in 2014 at the age of 86, was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010 by President Obama.

The quarter design depicts Ms. Angelou with outstretched arms. Behind her are a bird in flight and a rising sun, images inspired by her poetry.

The mint’s program will issue 20 quarters over the next four years honoring women and their achievements in shaping the nation’s history.

Additional honorees in 2022 will be physicist and first woman astronaut Sally Ride, and Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. Also honored this year will be Nina Otero-Warren, a leader in New Mexico’s suffrage movement and the first female superintendent of Santa Fe public schools, and Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, the Senate sponsor of legislation directing the mint to issue the quarters honoring women, applauded

the mint’s selection of Ms. Angelou. “This coin will ensure generations of Americans learn about MayaAngelou’s books and poetry that spoke to the lived experience

of Black women,” she said in a statement. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the na- tion’s first female treasury secretary, said, “Each time we redesign our currency, we have the chance to say something about our country. ... I’m very proud that these coins celebrate the contributions of some of America’s most remarkable women, including Maya Angelou.”