Panel Recommends Sacajawea Dollar Coin

Sacajawea, or at least the spirit of the Native American guide, was picked by a federal advisory panel to replace Susan B. Anthony in Americans’ pockets. The panel voted 6 to 1 to recommend to Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin that the new dollar coin bear the image of “Liberty, represented by a Native American woman, inspired by Sacajawea and other Native American women.” An actual portrait of the Shoshone girl who guided Lewis and Clark through the Pacific Northwest 200 years ago won’t appear because no pictures are believed to exist. Neither will her name. Rubin, who appointed the committee to pick a woman or women--none still alive--to go on the coin, is expected to accept the recommendation. The choice was a compromise between panel members who wanted to honor a woman of history and those who favored an allegorical symbol. Finalists included Eleanor Roosevelt and black aviation pioneer Bessie Coleman. The Anthony dollar was minted from 1979 to 1981 and widely disliked because it looked so much like a quarter. Supplies are expected to run out by mid-2000.