Former slave and faith-driven abolitionist Harriet Tubman will be the
face of the new $20 bill, becoming the first woman to appear on U.S.
paper currency since the 19th century, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew
announced yesterday. The back of the new bill will feature the White
House and an image of President Andrew Jackson, whom Tubman is
displacing from the front of the bill.
Lew said the Treasury Department will unveil the new bill in 2020 to
mark the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women
the right to vote.
“Harriet Tubman was a woman of faith who wasn’t afraid to act on her
beliefs to fight for justice,” said Kristina Arriaga, executive director
of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, in a written statement. “Her
incredible moral and physical courage is an example to all Americans, as
is her willingness to act on her Christian faith.”
Tubman was born a slave in Maryland in the 19th century. In 1848, she
escaped to Philadelphia but was not content with only her freedom.
Considered the Moses of her time, she made 19 trips to the South through
the Underground Railroad network and escorted more than 300 slaves to
freedom over 10 years. Her willful personality propelled her through the
perilous journey: She often had to draw her pistol on nervous slaves
who wanted to turn back. But Tubman’s faith in God served as her
strength, and she never lost a slave during the countless trips she
made.
“I always told God,” Tubman said, “I’m going to hold steady on to you, and you’ve got to see me through.”
During the Civil War, Tubman worked for the Union as a nurse, cook, and
spy. She earned the distinction of being the first woman to lead a
military expedition, directing the army on a raid to free 700 slaves in
1863. After the war, she continued to serve the elderly and poor and
remained a prominent advocate for education and the right for freed
slaves and women to vote.
“I’m doing my happy dance today,” Jurnee Smollett, an actress in the TV
series Underground, posted on Twitter. “Harriet Tubman will be on the
$20 bill! If our ancestors could see us now!”
In addition to the $20 bill, the back of the $10 bill will feature
images of women like Sojourner Truth and Lucretia Mott, who contributed
to suffrage movement, while the front will retain the portrait of
Alexander Hamilton. The back of the new $5 bill will feature Martin
Luther King, Marian Anderson, and Eleanor Roosevelt, while the front
will retain the portrait of President Abraham Lincoln.
Lew initially planned to put a woman on the $10 bill, but Hamilton
supporters protested. The Founding Father is enjoying a renaissance in
popular opinion thanks to the wildly popular Broadway musical Hamilton.
“We are delighted that the parties involved in the decision are united
in their commitment to the goal of honoring women in this most visible
fashion,” said Barbara Ortiz Howard, founder of Women On 20s, a
nonprofit that advocates from women’s faces on currency. “It’s high time
to get the party started.”
Courtesy: WORLD News Service
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