The U.S. Mint announced Monday that it has begun circulating a quarter that features the late Maya Angelou.

It's the first quarter to be released in the American Women Quarters (AWQ) Program, which honors trailblazing women.

“Maya Angelou’s writing and activism inspired countless Americans and her legacy helped fuel greater fairness and understanding across our nation,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, (D-NV). “She is exactly the type of leader I had in mind when Senator Fischer, Representative Lee and I wrote our bipartisan legislation to create a series of quarters honoring the contributions of American women."

Angelou is the first Black woman to appear on a U.S. quarter.

Other women to be featured on quarters include Dr. Sally Ride, Wilma Mankiller, Nina Otero-Warren and Anna May Wong.

The quarters will be released through 2025.

The first coin of the American Women Quarters Program is here—the Maya Angelou Quarter! Learn about honoree Maya Angelou and #HerQuarter in our press release at https://t.co/yYzGJpXQDD. Look for it in your change. @USTreasury @smithsonian @womenshistory @DrMayaAngelou @WCPInst pic.twitter.com/GVUpcnbszq

— United States Mint (@usmint) January 10, 2022

Maya Angelou received the Medal of Freedom from former President Barack Obama in 2010.

She died at the age of 86 in 2014.

A new U.S. quarter featuring the late Maya Angelou went into circulation Monday, the U.S. Mint announced, making the legendary poet and activist the first Black woman ever to appear on the coin.

The Maya Angelou quarter is the first in the American Women Quarters Program, which will include coins featuring prominent women in American history. Other quarters in the series will begin rolling out later this year and through 2025, the U.S. Mint said in a release on Monday.

"Each time we redesign our currency, we have the chance to say something about our country -- what we value, and how we've progressed as a society," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a separate statement. "I'm very proud that these coins celebrate the contributions of some of America's most remarkable women, including Maya Angelou."

The new coin still features George Washington's facade on the "heads" side, while the "tails" side honors Angelou by evoking one of her most famous works, the autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."

Lawmakers cheered the release of the new coin on Monday and credited Rep. Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, with the achievement. Lee introduced the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020, which passed in January 2021 and ultimately paved the way for the creation of these new coins.

"The phenomenal women who shaped American history have gone unrecognized for too long -- especially women of color," Lee said in a tweet. "Proud to have led this bill to honor their legacies."

The U.S. Mint invited the public to submit names of women they view as American icons. The bureau welcomed entries of women known for their work in civil rights, science and the arts, among other areas, with an emphasis on women from "ethnically, racially and geographically diverse backgrounds."

The only requirement was that the women who appear on the coins must be deceased.

The agency will issue four other quarters this year, with the others honoring Sally Ride, an astronaut who was the first American woman in space; Asian American actress Anna May Wong; Cherokee Nation leader Wilma Mankiller and suffragette and politician Nina Otero-Warren.