ca. 1860s --- A portrait of Harriet Tubman (ca. 1820-1913). Tubman, herself an escaped slave, helped hundreds of slaves escape the South by means of the Underground Railroad. She nursed Union troops during the Civil War and took on spying missions at great personal risk. She is known as the "Moses of Her People." | Location: northern United States. --- Image by © CORBIS

Score one for the fore-mothers of America as earlier this week the US Treasury Department announced Harriet Tubman will now replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Discussion of this change has been in the works for awhile, from everything to a vote of which woman should be on the bill to which bill would be replaced. The original plan was to replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10 but with the Pulitzer-Prize winning success of  “Hamilton” on Broadway, the switch was made.

Harriet Tubman is one of the most important figures in slavery abolitionism. She was a self-emancipated slave who led hundreds of slaves to their own freedom through the Underground Railroad.  She’s not only the first woman to appear on US currency in over 100 years (as the last time a woman was on a paper note was in the late 1800s, when First Lady Martha Washington appeared on the $1 silver certificate), Tubman is also the first African-American. Unbeknownst to some, Andrew Jackson actually owned slaves himself, so the decision to put Tubman on the $20 is almost one of pure karmic satisfaction—and, of course, overdue recognition.

UR Escape 2

 

And in recognition of women leaders in the suffrage movement, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and Lucretia Mott will now be added to the backs of the $5 and $10 bills with the back of the $5 bill being totally redesigned to include opera singer Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Big change is ahead for women in America, but this is just a start. When these monies start going toward the Equal Pay Act, then we’ll really have something to celebrate. But until then, we gladly welcome Harriet Tubman and the other world changing women to our wallet repertoire.

 

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