26 Feb Back on Track: The Harriett Tubman $20 Bill
Freed slave and freedom fighter Harriett Tubman once earned $20 a month as a civil war veteran. Now things are moving forward again for her to be the face on the $20 bill.
The movement started in 2014, when former President Barack Obama received a letter from 4th grader Sofia from Massachusetts in 2014, saying women should appear on currency. Obama called it “a pretty good idea.”
The conversation began with talk of redesigning the $10 bill, primarily due to counterfeiting concerns, under Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Lew spent the summer of 2015 asking the public for input, holding town halls, and seeking suggestions online and with the social media hashtag #thenew10.
The non-profit, grassroots organization, Women on 20’s, continued to petition for a change to the $20 note. While their primary focus was on who would be the new face, many had long pushed for the removal of Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill. Jackson was a lawyer, a soldier, a congressman and the seventh president of the United States. But he was also a wealthy slave owner who forced tens of thousands of Native Americans off their lands, on what became known as the Trail of Tears.
In response to the call for public input, Women on 20’s conducted a poll. Tubman emerged as the winner from among 600,000 ballots cast. The Obama administration announced in April 2016 that the new banknote featuring her image would appear in 2020 to honor the 100th anniversary of ratification the 19th amendment, securing women’s suffrage.
Efforts Stall Under Subsequent Administration
Those efforts were stalled under the following administration. In January 2019, then Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin under President Trump said that updating sophisticated anti-counterfeit technology before printing new American currency would require designing different security features and renovating the printing process. He indicated that meant delaying production to 2026 and distribution to 2028, to better develop anti-counterfeit methods.
While anti-counterfeiting had been the initial drive for change under the Obama administration as well, some questioned this delay. Senator Chuck Schumer requested an investigation in June of 2019 into the real reason behind the delay of $20 bill redesign featuring Harriet Tubman. In his letter, Schumer noted previous comments made by President Donald Trump when he called the efforts to replace President Jackson’s likeness on the front of the $20 note as “pure political correctness.”
Moving Forward Again
On Monday January 25, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration was “exploring ways to speed up that effort,” once again, although no new time frame has been announced. Psaki affirmed the administration’s commitment that it’s important the nation’s currency “reflect the history and diversity of our country.”
No women or people of color have ever been pictured on a denomination of currency still in circulation, though $1 coins have previously been issued featuring Susan B. Anthony, a pioneer of the women’s suffrage movement, and Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition across the Louisiana Territory.
The Harriett Tubman $20 bill is a significant move that represents one of the most symbolic honors ever awarded to a legendary black icon.
About Harriett Tubman
Harriett Tubman was a revolutionary black woman who escaped slavery, founded the Underground Railroad, and fought to make her life and her country better. “Not only did she devote her life to freedom and racial equality, but she also served as a strategist, scout and nurse in the Civil War, and fought for women’s rights alongside the nation’s leading suffragists,” said Women On 20, about building this movement for change.
Tubman escaped slavery using the Underground Railroad in 1849 and later became a “conductor” who helped free dozens of other enslaved people. She would later become known as the “Moses of her people.” During the Civil War, Tubman also worked for the Union Army as “a scout, spy, guerrilla soldier, and nurse,” according to the National Women’s History Museum, making her one of the first Black women to serve in the military.
After the war, Tubman became involved in the campaign for women’s suffrage along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, according to the National Parks Service.
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