Today, the US Mint unveiled Alabama's 2021 Tuskegee Airmen quarters, ending a twelve-year run. The last and newest currency from the U.S. Mint's America the Beautiful Quarters® Program comes in 40-coin rolls, two-roll sets, three-roll sets, and 100-coin bags.
The Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site is represented with a design on the reverse (tails side) of every new quarter. The Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco U.S. Mints made the rolls and bags' coins. Each has circulation quality but has never been published.
To honor the efforts of African-American airmen in World War II, that national park was designated in Tuskegee, Alabama on November 6, 1998. Moton Field, established between 1940 and 1942, was the main flight facility for African-American Army Air Corps pilot candidates.
Despite segregation and racial persecution, the Airmen excelled and helped desegregate the military. The airmen (pilots, navigators, and bombardiers), maintenance, support, and instructors are honored at the national site.
As two P-51 Mustangs fly above, the pilot looks up in pride and confidence. "THEY FOUGHT TWO WARS" (referring to fascism abroad and racial injustice at home), "TUSKEGEE AIRMEN," "ALABAMA," "2021," and "E PLURIBUS UNUM" are inscribed around the artwork.
All coins in the series feature George Washington on the obverse. Since 1932, quarter dollars have featured John Flanagan's Washington, with some alterations.
American circulation coins are made in the Philadelphia and Denver Mints. Thus, Tuskegee Airmen quarters from these two locations will circulate. Only quarters are made by the San Francisco Mint for numismatic reasons, such as for the roll and bag items.
In 2010, the Mint launched its America the Beautiful Quarters series, authorized by the 2008 America's Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act. The legislation chose one site from each state, DC, and the five US Territories. After consultation with the governor or other senior executive of each host jurisdiction and former Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner chose the places to commemorate. The sequence in which each site came under the direct jurisdiction of the U.S. Government determined which places were recognized.