Nurse, soldier, spy, landowner, escaped slave and now commemorated on a coin. Harriet Tubman, the American abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor, lived many lives, and is now the face on a series of coins released by the U.S. Mint in her honor.

The coins – $5 gold coins, $1 silver coins and half-dollars – commemorate the bicentennial of Tubman’s birth.

"​We all owe Harriet Tubman a huge debt of gratitude because I, and so many others, would not be where we are today if not for her heroism, her passion for freedom for our people and for her service to this country," said U.S. Mint Director Ventris Gibson, the first Black director of the bureau.

Over a 10-year period, Tubman personally guided about 70 people from slavery to freedom, and provided instructions to approximately 70 additional people who found their way to freedom, the U.S. Mint says on its website for the coin.

Tubman was also a New Yorker, having lived and died in Auburn, Cayuga County, after the Civil War.

Rev. Paul Carter is site manager at the Harriet Tubman House in Auburn.

Carter said Tubman owned 32 acres of land in Auburn. She ran an infirmary and a convalescent home for those in need after being the only woman to lead soldiers in the Civil War.

He said the Harriet Tubman coins are a opportunity for all, including those who want to pass down historical family heirlooms.

"With this coin coming out, I think it's a new opportunity for us to reach the public. It gives us an opportunity to have the funding necessary that we need to do to enhance what we have here, so that Harriet Tubman's life can continue to be put into the community, and the people will know more about her and what she did for America and the role that she played to make this country what it is today," Carter said.