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On June 8, 2024, Oswego High School hosted a ceremony honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker as her image has been inscribed on the U.S. quarter.
Walker is the 13th out of 20 historical women that have been selected to appear on the coin as part of the U.S. Mint American Women Quarters Program.
Walker was an American Civil War surgeon and prisoner of war, and is the only woman to have received the Congressional Medal of Honor. After being raised and educated in Oswego County by her progressive parents, she was the second woman to receive a medical degree from Syracuse Medical College in 1855.
Walker was also an abolitionist and suffragette, advocating for civil rights and women’s liberation. Part of her advocacy included dress reform, which involved rejecting traditional women’s clothing in favor of pants in everyday wear. This was something she was heavily ostracized for at the time, but she never weakened her resolve for the cause. Walker passed away at age 86 in 1919, and was buried in a black suit to represent her decades-ahead beliefs.
Walker and the other women chosen to appear on U.S. currency were selected because of their contributions to society throughout history. At the beginning of the program in 2021, people all over the country were invited to submit recommendations for consideration. The list was then narrowed down to 20 women by a committee of experts from the Smithsonian Institution’s American Women’s History Initiative, the National Women’s History Museum, and the Congressional Bipartisan Women’s Caucus.
The ceremony honoring Walker was moderated by Vice President of External Affairs for the National Women’s History Museum Jennifer Herrera, with remarks from City of Oswego Mayor Robert Corradino and Walker’s great-great-great grandniece Michelle Marra. The opening statements reflected important aspects of Walker’s life and her significance to American history.
These remarks were followed by a panel featuring Oswego Town Historian and leading expert on Walker’s life, Rev. George R. DeMass; Designer and Sculptor of the Dr. Mary Edwards Walker Quarter, Phebe Hemphill; and Foundation and Special Programs Manager of the Whitman-Walker Foundation, Charles Hastings.
DeMass led the conversation about Walker’s life during the panel and spoke to her resilience as an activist, including the tale of her Medal of Honor.
“She sat in every president’s office from Abraham Lincoln to Woodrow Wilson. Andrew Johnson gave her the Medal of Honor, and even though they ended up taking it from her, she did not give it back. It was taken away because the regulations were changed and she was one of many who had their medals rescinded, and they ended up restoring it back to her under the Carter Administration,” DeMass said.
This posthumous restoration acknowledged the monumental work she did in healthcare and activism for all. Walker was selected for the American Women Quarters Program based on these merits, and the design for her commemorative quarter was made by Phebe Hemphill with great consideration of her tenacious spirit.
“I knew nothing about her story before I began, and after reading her story, I knew that she was a true hero and also became a hero to me when trying to compose the design. I knew she wore her curls out on the battlefield, so I tried to give her as noble and as accurate a design as I could on this quarter,” Hemphill said. “I’m just thrilled that these deserving women can be prominent in U.S. coinage.”
The event concluded with the ceremonial coin pour facilitated by Chief Risk Officer of the United States Mint Melanie Barber, and each person in attendance was given a 2024 American Women Quarters collectable sleeve with their own Dr. Mary Edwards Walker quarter.
