OPINION: Tubman on the $20 bill – it’s about time, America
The new bills with Tubman are expected to print starting 2020.
After organizations such as Women on 20s ceaselessly pushed for a woman to appear on the national currency, the U.S. Treasury Department finally announced Wednesday that Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill, moving the former president to the back of the bill.
It’s about time, America.
Not only would Tubman be the first woman to appear on the nation’s bills in over a century, she will also be the first African-American to do so.
Loading ...Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced that Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, and Alice Paul will appear on the back of the revised $10 bill while Eleanor Roosevelt, Marian Anderson, and Martin Luther King Jr. will be featured on the back of the new $5 bill.
The impact women in the United States had and still have today is tremendous. Numerous instances in history have proven that.
Still honored today for her bravery, abolitionist Harriet Tubman put her own life at risk to liberate hundreds of slaves from the plantations of the South using the Underground Railroad. She was also a spy for the Union during the Civil War.
Sojourner Truth, like Tubman, was an abolitionist who also fought for women’s suffrage. She conveyed her ideas through powerful speeches that demanded equal rights for all.
As a human rights activist, Eleanor Roosevelt was the first chairperson of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. She also helped the war effort by visiting American troops. Roosevelt is often known for being the longest-serving First Lady in the United States, but even after the death of her husband, she continued her work as a diplomat and activist.
These are just some of the many examples of how women changed America. Many others, such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, made their own unique contributions as well.
Some claim that replacing Jackson, Hamilton, or anyone else currently on American currency is disrespectful. However, there is not currently a single dollar bill that features a woman on its face. Isn’t that just as insulting?
Furthermore, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, forcing many Native Americans to give up their lands and move west. This eventually led to the notorious “Trail of Tears,” a forced migration from east of the Mississippi River to Oklahoma, which killed over 4,000 Native Americans, according to the Public Broadcasting Service. Because of this genocide, Jackson’s position on the $20 bill – either on the front or back – is problematic. But that’s a discussion for another day. Today is a day for celebrating Tubman’s elevation.
We claim to be a country that grants equality to all, but are we truly when we haven’t even had a single female president leading the nation? We are on our way there, but for now, putting a woman on American currency is just the first step.
