Currency Notes: In Pursuit of Freedom by Harriet Tubman

Source details

Article title: "In Pursuit of Freedom"
Author: MELINDA WEIR
Publication: F&D Magazine
Date: March 2024
Summary finding: Harriet Tubman will be featured on three commemorative coins to be released this year.
Legal and contextual note in source: "Opinions expressed in articles and other materials are those of the authors; they do not necessarily reflect IMF policy."

Coins announced in January by the US Mint: $5 gold, $1 silver, and half-dollar clad coins.
Law authorizing the coins was passed in 2022, the bicentennial of Tubman’s birth.
Intended use: While the coins are legal tender, they are intended primarily as collector’s items and will not be in general circulation.

Born into slavery in 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland.
Thought to have made over a dozen high-risk missions to the South.
Credited with leading an estimated 70 people to freedom.
Roles: conductor on the Underground Railroad; later a nurse and Army scout for the Union Army in the US Civil War.
Military distinction: First woman to lead an armed expedition in the US Civil War; one raid led to freedom for hundreds of enslaved people in South Carolina.
Later-life activities: Gave speeches in support of women’s voting rights, civil rights, and health care.
Death: Died in 1913 in Auburn, New York.

Surcharges from the sale of the coins will go to:
- the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and
- the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc., a nonprofit in Auburn, New York.

Plans to feature Tubman on the US $20 banknote have been delayed in recent years.
Credit line in the article: Alan Kolnik / Alamy Stock Photo

F&D Magazine — "In Pursuit of Freedom", MELINDA WEIR, March 2024

Currency Notes: In Pursuit of Freedom
- Currency Notes: In Pursuit of Freedom (Markdown version)
- Currency Notes: In Pursuit of Freedom (PDF)