Last week, President Biden signed into law H.R. 1842, the Harriett Tubman Commemorative Coin Act. The Act is now known as Public Law 117-163 and you can read the full text of the law here. President Biden was presented the Act on August 2nd and signed it the following day.
H.R. 1842 called for the minting of 50,000 $5 gold coins, 400,000 $1 silver coins, and 750,000 Half Dollar clad commemorative coins to be produced to honor the bicentennial of Tubman. The bill also calls for the design of the coin to, “be emblematic of the legacy of Harriet Tubman as an abolitionist. At least one obverse design shall bear the image of Harriet Tubman”. The timing of the commemorative coincides with Tubman’s bicentennial birth, which is actually this year. However, the legislation for the coin was not introduced until this year. With the 2023 commemorative coins already set, 2024 was the soonest that the Mint would be able to produce the commemoratives.
The coins are set to be minted and sold in 2024 by the United States Mint and will be sold directly to collectors via its website.
Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.
Now that the law has been signed, artists at the United States Mint will begin the process of designing coins that are emblematic of Tubman. Those designs should become public sometime in early 2023 as part of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC) meetings. A final design for the coins will be made likely next summer so the Mint can be ready to produce the coins in 2024.