A Korean-American Woman to Be Featured on US Coin... Disability Rights Activist Milburn

Korean-American Human Rights Activist Stacy Park Milburn
Born 1987... Passed Away Early While Battling Cancer

In 2025, a 25-cent commemorative coin issued in the United States will feature the face of a Korean-American figure. This marks the first time a Korean-American has been selected for U.S. currency, and the honoree is the late Stacey Park Milburn, a female disability rights activist who passed away in 2020.

According to the Korea Daily and the United States Mint (USM) on the 3rd, Stacey Park Milburn has been chosen as the 2025 figure for the "American Women Quarters Program," which honors women who have achieved remarkable accomplishments in modern American history by featuring their faces on coins.

Coin design by Stacy Park Milburn released by the United States Mint
[Photo by Yonhap News]

This program was launched to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which prohibited gender discrimination. From 2022 to 2025, over four years, five women with outstanding achievements and contributions are selected annually to have their faces engraved on the reverse side of the 25-cent coin. The obverse side of the coin continues to feature the face of George Washington, the first president of the United States.

Milburn was born in 1987 in Seoul to a Korean mother and a father who was a U.S. military serviceman stationed in Korea. She later moved to the United States and grew up in North Carolina. Born with congenital muscular dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disease, her experience became a catalyst for her involvement in disability rights activism.

From her teenage years, Milburn actively worked to improve the rights of disabled and marginalized groups, gaining significant attention by posting writings on her personal blog about the injustices faced by people with disabilities.

She was later appointed as a commissioner of the North Carolina state government’s disability association, where she helped pass legislation mandating disability history education in public schools for disabled students and contributed to designating October as Disability History Awareness Month.

Disability rights activist Stacy Park Milburn (center) [Photo source: Screenshot from Google Arts & Culture website]

After moving to San Francisco, she engaged in advocacy for the rights of people of color, low-income individuals, and the homeless, who were in even more difficult circumstances than herself. In 2014, she also served as a disability policy advisory member on the Intellectual Disabilities Committee under the Obama administration.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she took a leading role in delivering masks, emergency medicines, and hygiene supplies to socially vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, low-income individuals, and the homeless. Although diagnosed with kidney cancer, she remained passionately active until her passing on May 19, 2020, due to complications from surgery. That day was her 33rd birthday.

The U.S. Mint described Milburn as "a visionary leader and a powerful advocate for people with disabilities," noting that "through her diverse activities, she directly contributed to enabling people with disabilities to live independent lives without relying on institutions."

While coins bearing Milburn’s face will not be available until the year after next, the U.S. Mint has released a design draft depicting her sitting in a wheelchair with a bright expression, speaking confidently. The USM will finalize the coin’s design after a review process.

Meanwhile, other women selected to appear on the 2025 commemorative coins alongside Milburn include African American journalist Ida B. Wells, Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon, astronomer Vera Rubin, and African American tennis player Althea Gibson.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.