Anybody who spent enough time in elementary school has heard of the Mayflower, the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War and the Gettysburg Address. Anybody who spent enough time in elementary school has heard of Frederick Douglass, even if that lesson was during Black History Month in February. And nearly everybody who spent enough time in elementary school has heard the name of and seen the famous painting of Ruby Bridges.

But apparently President Donald Trump's administration wants to stop history at a certain point in time and exclude more inclusive parts of our history in favor of, gulp, "traditional" history.

Traditional.

Wow.

I once wore button-down, ironed and starched dress shirts, sometimes with French cuff links with pleated dress pants, wingtip shoes and often with a Mont Blanc pen with the white tip peeking from a pocket. That was traditional. But that didn't mean I was stuck in the 1700s or the 1800s when it came to history.

I favor sneaks, soft-sole shoes; pullover, collared and T-shirts; jeans and casual slacks. But that doesn't mean I bow to and expect others to lift Beyoncé to Ruby Bridges level and push Denzel Washington to Frederick Douglass heights.

But c'mon. Why would we celebrate our nation's 250th anniversary this year and identify only "traditional" moments in our rich history? Why wouldn't we include Ruby Bridges and Frederick Douglass? 

Way back in 1996, the U.S. Congress formed the Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee. This expert group of coin people focused on commemorative coins. In 2003, the U.S. Congress abolished that group, creating the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC). They've operated each year since, meeting regularly, discussing history, numismatics and even sculpture. They've done the same work under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The group includes people appointed by the U.S. secretary of the treasury. The treasury secretary was Steven Mnuchin in Trump's first term. Trump's second-term treasury secretary is Scott Bessent.

Mnuchin made news during his tenure, but not involving coins. Not many know it was Bessent who axed the Bridges and Douglass coins.

Now you know.

The stingy, specific and all-so-careful CCAC proudly endorsed some special coin designs, including coins recognizing women's suffrage, the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement. Specific recommendations were sent to Bessent and the U.S. Mint leadership, which reports to the treasury secretary. They rejected the experts' recommendations. Perhaps they might've approved a coin recognizing women cooking in kitchens and doing laundry, the creation of the Ku Klux Klan and White supremacist movements.

Coins recognizing the Mayflower, the Gettysburg Address and the Revolutionary War were added to the list. I have quibbles and qualms about each of those, but I'd be OK with keeping those — along with the others.

Ruby Bridges is a history maker. At 6 years old, she was one of the first Black children to integrate a White school, attending William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. Her parents made the decision to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, which prohibited segregation. She was one of four New Orleans girls to integrate White schools on Nov. 14, 1960, and the one whose defiance and struggle was memorialized by artist Norman Rockwell in one of his most famous paintings, “.â€Â 

Bridges is about my age, so maybe that's part of the problem.

On the table but not approved by the CCAC is a special 2026 coin recognizing Trump. I'm sure he'd love that. But might that require a change in U.S. law? 

"No head and shoulders portrait or bust of any person, living or dead, and no portrait of a living person may be included in the design on the reverse of specified coins," reads one part of the 2020 H.R. 1923 law passed by the 116th Congress (2019-2020) and signed by then-President Donald Trump.

Bridges and Trump are alive and well as of this writing. Though I'd love a Bridges coin and I'd give away a Trump coin, I'll call that a draw and let it go.

But why not my man Fred?

I've got Douglass on my desk. He's in books I can reach. I was recognized by a Black journalists group with a Douglass sketch because they knew how much I love Fred and what he was all about.

Please take Trump off the table. I'll give you Bridges. I'll take the Mayflower, the Revolutionary War and the Gettysburg Address. But give me women's suffrage, the abolition of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. And Frederick Douglass.

Email Will Sutton at wsutton@theadvocate.com.

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