The Coin That Says WE SHALL OVERCOME

On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law — the act that outlawed segregation in schools, workplaces, and public places, and banned discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It is one of the most consequential laws in American history.

Fifty years later, Congress decided that anniversary deserved a coin. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law 110-451) directed the U.S. Mint to strike a single silver dollar for 2014 — and only for 2014. Commemorative coins like this one are legal tender, but they are not made for your pocket. They are sold by the Mint to collectors at a premium, in two finishes, then never struck again.

That single-year window is the whole idea. The coin exists to mark a moment, not to circulate. When the year ended, the dies were retired and the story was sealed.

The obverse — the heads side — is unusually plain-spoken for a U.S. coin. Three figures march hand in hand, and one of them carries a sign reading WE SHALL OVERCOME, the anthem of the civil rights movement. Around them run the words LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, and the date 2014. There is no president, no allegory, no eagle. Just people, walking forward together.

It was designed by Justin Kunz, a contract artist working with the Mint, and sculpted — turned from a drawing into the three-dimensional model that becomes the die — by Mint sculptor-engraver Phebe Hemphill.

The reverse — the tails side — turns to symbol. Three flames intertwine, standing for three freedoms the act helped secure: the freedom of education, the freedom to vote, and the freedom to control one's own destiny. It carries the inscriptions CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 and, plainly, SIGNED INTO LAW JULY 2, 1964, alongside UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM, and ONE DOLLAR. That reverse was designed by Donna Weaver and sculpted by sculptor-engraver Jim Licaretz.

Here is what makes this coin interesting to collectors: almost nobody bought the uncirculated version. Congress allowed up to 350,000 coins across both finishes. The Mint sold 61,992 proofs — proof being the mirror-finish, specially struck collector version — and just 24,720 of the uncirculated business-strike finish.

That uncirculated figure is small. By several counts it was the lowest sales total for any U.S. commemorative silver dollar since 1996, which has earned this coin a reputation as one of the scarcest of all modern commemoratives. Low original sales mean few survive in top condition, and a coin people overlooked when it was new can become the one collectors chase later.

The two finishes were sold at introductory prices of $44.95 (uncirculated) and $49.95 (proof). Of every coin's price, $10 was a surcharge that went, by law, to the United Negro College Fund — so buying the coin funded scholarships at historically Black colleges. There is only one date and one mint: 2014-P. No mint mark to hunt, no key date among many. With this coin, condition and finish are the whole game.