Uploaded February 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
On October 24, 2022, the US Mint released the Anna May Wong quarter, the fourth coin in its American Women Quarters Program. Who was Anna May Wong? What is the American Women Quarters Program? And why is it important to consider the stories on coins and their sometimes awkward relation to other symbols of the nation? Join noted scholars, curators, and representatives from the US Mint to learn about Anna May Wong's significance in the history of US film, race and political consciousness in the 1930s and beyond, the hidden histories and challenges of actors of color, the Asian-American experience, coin design, and how the history of entertainment intertwines with the history - and present - of our money.
Panelists include:
Dr. Ellen Feingold, Curator of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Dr. Karen J. Leong, Associate Professor, Women and Gender Studies and Asian Pacific American Studies, Arizona State University, and Author of The China Mystique: Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, Mayling Soong, and the Transformation of American Orientalism (University of California Press, 2005)
Michele Thompson, Program Lead, American Women Quarters Program, U.S. Mint
Tracy Scelzo-Chavez, Program Analyst, U.S. Mint
Dr. Theodore S. Gonzalves, '01 UCI Ph.D. in Comparative Culture, Curator of Asian Pacific American History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Ryan Lintelman, Curator, Division of Cultural and Community Life, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsored by: School of Social Sciences and the Office of Global Engagement, UC Irvine
On October 24, 2022, the US Mint released the Anna May Wong quarter, the fourth coin in its American Women Quarters Program. Who was Anna May Wong? What is the American Women Quarters Program? And why is it important to consider the stories on coins and their sometimes awkward relation to other symbols of the nation? Join noted scholars, curators, and representatives from the US Mint to learn about Anna May Wong's significance in the history of US film, race and political consciousness in the 1930s and beyond, the hidden histories and challenges of actors of color, the Asian-American experience, coin design, and how the history of entertainment intertwines with the history - and present - of our money.
Panelists include:
Dr. Ellen Feingold, Curator of the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Dr. Karen J. Leong, Associate Professor, Women and Gender Studies and Asian Pacific American Studies, Arizona State University, and Author of The China Mystique: Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, Mayling Soong, and the Transformation of American Orientalism (University of California Press, 2005)
Michele Thompson, Program Lead, American Women Quarters Program, U.S. Mint
Tracy Scelzo-Chavez, Program Analyst, U.S. Mint
Dr. Theodore S. Gonzalves, '01 UCI Ph.D. in Comparative Culture, Curator of Asian Pacific American History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Ryan Lintelman, Curator, Division of Cultural and Community Life, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsored by: School of Social Sciences and the Office of Global Engagement, UC Irvine
