By: Brianna Bonham
Photo Editor
After years of debate, a grassroots campaign that advocated for a woman to be added to currency, and a Broadway musical that changed their mind, the United States Treasury Department revealed that Harriet Tubman will soon be featured on the $20 bill to commemorate the upcoming anniversary of the 19th amendment.
For quite a while the Treasury was planning on removing Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father and creator of the National Bank, from the $10 bill and replacing him with a woman. Shortly after the revolutionary musical Hamilton opened its doors on Broadway, fans were outraged and the Treasury quickly changed their minds (Good call, Treasury).
On April 20, the Treasury announced that instead of removing Hamilton from the $10, they will be replacing Andrew Jackson with Tubman. Not removing, replacing. Yes folks, Harriet Tubman, a lifelong abolitionist will be sharing the bill with Andrew Jackson, a man who was believed to own over 300 slaves in his lifetime.
Do they not see anything wrong with this?
I want to take a moment to celebrate the fact that there is finally a woman being represented on our nation’s currency. The new bills will be put into circulation starting in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote.
Though Tubman’s history with women’s rights is not huge as she was more of a strong supporter, than she was an activist, she was invited as a guest speaker at the first meeting of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, and toured New York, Boston, and Washington in support of women’s rights. These initiatives are the reason the bill is coming out on the anniversary of the 19th amendment.
Tubman is more widely known for her involvement with the Underground Railroad, a system of trails and safe houses that brought slaves from the south to free north states and Canada. She returned to the South 19 times to bring over 300 slaves to safety.
Obviously, Tubman is beyond deserving of her upcoming spot on the $20 and it is great to finally see representation from a black woman in our set of whitewashed greenbacks.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the men on our currency have done great things, great enough to get their faces in almost every U.S. citizen’s pockets. They helped form our country after all, even if they weren’t so kind in their social lives. What I’m questioning is the fact that the Treasury wants to put a former slave owner on the same bill as a former slave.
The first thing that comes to my mind is that it’s extremely disrespectful and unnecessary. Jackson has been on the bill for 88 years, and now that people are pushing to make change (such as the grassroots campaign, Women On 20s) others simply cannot let go.
I was sitting in class, waiting for my professor to arrive when I overheard a guy saying that he would be trading in all of his $20s for other bills once Tubman replaced Jackson. He said it was “disrespectful to take off a great President.”
Again, I recognize that Jackson played a great part in forming our country, but keeping him on the bill defeats the purpose of putting Tubman on the bill. She is being put on the bill in recognition of all of the work she did as a liberator and activist, and to keep a man who condoned slavery and everything she was against detracts from the significance of adding her.
It shows to me a lack of respect for Tubman and the work that she did to save slaves throughout her life, and seems almost mocking to leave Jackson to be lurking on the back of the $20.
While serving as President, Jackson showed a strong mistrust for the National Bank, and strongly opposed the use of paper currency. In 1836, he issued a Specie Circular that required land to be purchased with hard money (precious metal) as opposed to soft money (paper).
If he hated paper money so much, why do people want to keep him on it so bad? It seems to me that he wouldn’t want his face imprinted on these bills.
As a woman it is frustrating for me to think of holding one of the new $20s for the first time, reveling in the fact that there is now someone representing the rest of the women in the U.S. on something so widely available as our currency, only to flip it over and have that flame doused by Jackson. Taunting me with his bushy brows, he almost seems to say, “and you ladies almost thought you won.”
Representation is so important and featuring Tubman on the bill goes beyond representing the U.S. women; Tubman represents the black citizens of the U.S.According to the U.S. Census of 2014, there are an estimated 40,379,066 black citizens, an estimated 52.3% of those being women.
With movements such as Black Lives Matter becoming more and more prevalent and gaining publicity in recent years, I believe that Harriet Tubman would be a great opportunity to represent these women, and show change and diversity in our nation.
Tubman fought for equality in our country and adding her to our nation’s currency would bring us one step closer. We should leave Jackson in the 19th century, and celebrate Tubman as the strong, independent leader that she was.
