Group pushing to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 with Harriet Tubman
A group campaigning to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with a woman has announced who they want that woman to be: Harriet Tubman.
Starting in March, the non-profit Women on 20s held two rounds of voting in which the conductor of the Underground Railroad claimed victory over 99 other trailblazing women including Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation.
With their winner chosen, the group embarks on the final phase of its campaign. On Tuesday, Women on 20s would petition the White House to make an abolitionist the successor to a slave-owning U.S. president.
'Our paper bills are like pocket monuments to great figures in our history,' Women On 20s Executive Director Susan Ades Stone told the Washington Post in a statement. 'Our work won't be done until we're holding a Harriet $20 bill in our hands in time for the centennial of women's suffrage in 2020.'
Some 600,000 people voted in the campaign to replace Jackson. And the idea of updating the $20 bill with a woman's face has gained some support in very high places.
In July, while giving a speech in Kansas City, President Obama said:
'Last week, a young girl wrote to me to ask why aren't there any women on our currency.
'And then she gave me a long list of possible women to put on our dollar bills and quarters and stuff -- which I thought was a pretty good idea.'
And in April, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen filed legislation that would create a citizens panel to recommend an appropriate choice of woman to place on the $20 to the treasury secretary. She said is hoping to build on the work of Women on 20s.
'I think there are a lot of opportunities that we sometimes don't think about to point out the significant contributions women have made in U.S. history,' Shaheen said. 'And this is one of those opportunities.'
The current portrait of former President Andrew Jackson has stared out from the face of the $20 since 1928. But paper currency is redesigned every seven to 10 years to thwart counterfeiters, and the latest $20 notes entered circulation in 2003.
Changes can be ordered by the treasury secretary or president without an act of Congress, and Shaheen's bill wouldn't compel either to do so. Still, she and campaign supporters hope it will boost public support for redesigning the currency and spur broader conversation about the achievements of American women.
Barbara Ortiz Howard founded Women on 20s last year to honor historic women by making them visible in everyday lives.
According to the Department of the Treasury, Martha Washington is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on a U.S. currency note. It appeared on $1 silver certificates in 1886, 1891 and 1896. Given that the $20 is overdue for an update, the cost of redesigning it to include a female portrait would be nominal, Shaheen said.
U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, a New Hampshire Democrat, said she is proud to support the legislation.
"Although half of America's population are women, we have yet to see a face on paper currency that exemplifies the women leaders in our society," Kuster said. "It's far past time to honor the important women who helped shape our nation's history."
source: Group pushing to replace Andrew Jackson on $20 selects Harriet Tubman as candidate | Daily Mail Online
A group campaigning to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with a woman has announced who they want that woman to be: Harriet Tubman.
Starting in March, the non-profit Women on 20s held two rounds of voting in which the conductor of the Underground Railroad claimed victory over 99 other trailblazing women including Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation.
With their winner chosen, the group embarks on the final phase of its campaign. On Tuesday, Women on 20s would petition the White House to make an abolitionist the successor to a slave-owning U.S. president.
'Our paper bills are like pocket monuments to great figures in our history,' Women On 20s Executive Director Susan Ades Stone told the Washington Post in a statement. 'Our work won't be done until we're holding a Harriet $20 bill in our hands in time for the centennial of women's suffrage in 2020.'
Some 600,000 people voted in the campaign to replace Jackson. And the idea of updating the $20 bill with a woman's face has gained some support in very high places.
In July, while giving a speech in Kansas City, President Obama said:
'Last week, a young girl wrote to me to ask why aren't there any women on our currency.
'And then she gave me a long list of possible women to put on our dollar bills and quarters and stuff -- which I thought was a pretty good idea.'
And in April, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen filed legislation that would create a citizens panel to recommend an appropriate choice of woman to place on the $20 to the treasury secretary. She said is hoping to build on the work of Women on 20s.
'I think there are a lot of opportunities that we sometimes don't think about to point out the significant contributions women have made in U.S. history,' Shaheen said. 'And this is one of those opportunities.'
The current portrait of former President Andrew Jackson has stared out from the face of the $20 since 1928. But paper currency is redesigned every seven to 10 years to thwart counterfeiters, and the latest $20 notes entered circulation in 2003.
Changes can be ordered by the treasury secretary or president without an act of Congress, and Shaheen's bill wouldn't compel either to do so. Still, she and campaign supporters hope it will boost public support for redesigning the currency and spur broader conversation about the achievements of American women.
Barbara Ortiz Howard founded Women on 20s last year to honor historic women by making them visible in everyday lives.
According to the Department of the Treasury, Martha Washington is the only woman whose portrait has appeared on a U.S. currency note. It appeared on $1 silver certificates in 1886, 1891 and 1896. Given that the $20 is overdue for an update, the cost of redesigning it to include a female portrait would be nominal, Shaheen said.
U.S. Rep. Annie Kuster, a New Hampshire Democrat, said she is proud to support the legislation.
"Although half of America's population are women, we have yet to see a face on paper currency that exemplifies the women leaders in our society," Kuster said. "It's far past time to honor the important women who helped shape our nation's history."
source: Group pushing to replace Andrew Jackson on $20 selects Harriet Tubman as candidate | Daily Mail Online
