District of Columbia

Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States. Interestingly, however, this place is not a ‘state.’ Its official name is the ‘District of Columbia,’ a special district that belongs to no state and is directly managed by the federal government. The people who founded the United States, worried that if the capital were placed in a particular state that state alone would grow powerful, deliberately created the capital in a neutral zone that is not a state.

The main figure on the reverse of the coin is Duke Ellington, seated at a grand piano. Beside the image, along with his name, is written the phrase “Justice for All.”

Duke Ellington is a legendary jazz composer and pianist born right here in Washington, D.C. He is counted as the figure who elevated jazz, the music that the United States takes pride in before the world, to another level. In particular, he is also the first African American to appear on his own on a circulating coin actually used in the United States. So this coin honors, together with the greatness of music, the path of equality that the United States has walked.

It was in 1790 that Washington, D.C. was decided upon as the location of the capital. Land near the Potomac River was designated as the capital site, and in 1800 the federal government moved here, making it the heart of America in name and reality.

Within a single small coin, the special status of being the capital of the United States and the great artist it produced are contained together. Just by looking closely at the coin, we naturally come to encounter the point where America’s politics and culture meet.