Putting a new face on our currency
Money is but a symbol of what we value; its worth based entirely on our faith in what it stands for. The numbers on those scraps of green paper have long been more important than the faces. Until now.
By putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, our U.S. Treasury is making a statement. Bold, overdue, important.
Why? Because our nation is taking another step toward honoring some of those we have overlooked and failed to honor in the past. By honoring them now and in the future, it gives some of us hope, if not faith, that we will become stronger with the effort.
Consider Harriet Tubman, starting in 2020 the new face of the $20 bill. Born into slavery, Tubman’s family was bought and sold with American dollars. She freed herself from slavery, escaping to Philadelphia from the Maryland farm where she was born. Then she went back to lead her family to freedom. Over a decade, some say she helped hundreds escape through the Underground Railroad, but she never put the number past 70. When the Civil War began, she started cooking for the army. Soon, she was passing information to commanders. Then she crossed enemy lines, becoming a scout and a spy. She went with a raiding party along the the Combahee River in South Carolina, helping to free 700 slaves.
After the war, she worked to gain the vote for women. Then she fought the federal government for the Army pension she had earned. Her last battle was to create a place for impoverished African Americans to spend their final years.
She will replace Andrew Jackson at the center of a redesigned $20 bill. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Jackson will be moved to the back of the bill.
Many thought the Treasury Department would use its first opportunity – the redesign of $10 bill taking place now – to put a woman on a bill. But Alexander Hamilton, our first Secretary of Treasury, proved too popular with both conservatives and fans of the play “Hamilton.” Instead, the updated $10 bill will include images of the 1913 march for women’s suffrage, honoring Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth.
The $5 bill is also getting an overhaul, keeping Abraham Lincoln on the front but showing images from the 1939 March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech on the back.
Redesigning the bills makes a powerful statement about the role of women and minorities in shaping our nation. It also makes a powerful statement about changes in how America perceives itself. No longer is America dominated entirely by white men; like California, the nation is becoming a majority-minority population. Our money should reflect these changes.
Many believe we are moving toward an economy that doesn’t need money. All our transactions will be carried out electronically through cell phones or wristbands. We believe that time is a long, long way off.
In the meantime, our greenback dollars remain one of the most powerful and recognizable symbols of America throughout the world. Such a powerful symbol needs a better representation of what is truly powerful and wonderful about America – that everyone contributes, no matter their gender or ethnicity. Hooray for Harriet Tubman. Now we’re look forward to seeing the faces of others who have contributed just as much.
This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Putting a new face on our currency."