Frederick Douglass coin becomes second release in the 2017 U.S. Mint collection

The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, D.C., has joined the ranks of national monuments and historic sites as the 37th overall coin to be released in the America the Beautiful Quarters U.S. Mint collection.

The U.S. Mint produces circulating coinage and has featured some of America’s most important national parks and monuments since 2010. When the program ends in 2021, there will be 56 quarter-dollar coins available for collection.

This particular coin is the second 2017 release. It first featured the Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa, which was made available in February. Three more coins will be released to the public in June, August and November.

The Frederick Douglass coin features the original 1932 quarter obverse of President George Washington on the front, and Douglass —seated and writing at a desk with his Washington, D.C., home in the background — is on the coin’s reverse side.

Douglass remains one of the most influential African-Americans in history. He was an abolitionist, social reformer, activist and author who escaped slavery and went on to become one of the most well-known proponents of the abolitionist movement.

Douglass was born into slavery in 1818 and began working as a body servant in Baltimore at 8 years old. Although slaves were not allowed to formally learn to read and write, and were severely punished if caught trying to learn on their own, Douglass ignored the warnings and taught himself anyway, finding an affinity for debates and speeches by age 12. In 1838, the 20-year-old Douglass had become fed up with oppression and began plotting his escape. With the help of Anna Murray, a free black woman whom Douglass would later marry, he disguised himself as a free black sailor and boarded a train that would take him from Baltimore to New York City.

Douglass and Murray began their new lives in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Douglass gained notoriety as an orator who traveled across the North and Midwest to speak out against slavery and the mistreatment of blacks. Douglass would go on to become a top recruiter of black troops in the Civil War, serve as the U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia and the U.S. minister to Haiti, and write three autobiographical narratives describing his life experiences in great detail.

The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site is the only site featuring an African-American in the coin collection to date. The Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee, Alabama, is set to join Douglass’ in 2021, closing out the 11-year program.