Honor overdue

Over the last decade, the U.S. Mint has been trickling out quarters with new designs on the back commemorating our 50 states and territories. The series will be completed this fall with the late September release of the U.S. Virgin Islands coin and Nov. 30 circulation of the Northern Mariana Islands quarter.

The coins have been a big hit among collectors, and serves as a two-bit touchstone of state pride.

But the designs leave one to wonder about the choice of subject matter. For instance, Alabama’s coin features Helen Keller, who was certainly an extraordinary person and an icon Alabamians should hold dear.

Brainstorming for a coin design took place during the Don Siegelman administration, and the governor solicited the state’s schoolchildren for ideas. Top designs under consideration featured a moon rocket or space shuttle to recognize Alabama’s considerable contribution to space exploration, Sequoyah, who developed the Cherokee alphabet, and the Yellowhammer, a state bird most people only know from football cheer at the Capstone.

Siegelman chose Ms. Keller as a fitting representative of our state.

When one thinks of Alabama, surely the wondrous life of Ms. Keller is not the first thing to come to mind. Fortunately, we could gin up countless gems in our state that deserve recognition. Alabama could easily furnish enough material for its own series of coins.

That won’t likely happen. But our state will get another shot.

The U.S. Mint will soon issue a quarter commemorating the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Macon County. It’s part of a new series to recognize national parks and other national sites from each of the 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.

Alabama has a complicated history with regard to matters of race, and much of it is not the sort of thing one would like to see recognized on the back of hundreds of thousands of quarters.

The Tuskegee Airmen and their skillful contributions to U.S. warfare represent the best of our state and the resilience of a group of men who soared despite the yoke of Jim Crow.

That’s “change” our state can be proud of.