Have you heard about the battle over the $20 bill? When a grassroots organization called Women on 20s started a movement to replace Andrew Jackson with a historically significant woman on the 20 by 2020, the popular vote went to Harriet Tubman. Obama’s Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was all for it, vowing to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the 20 (but keep Jackson on the back) and even laying out plans to redesign the backs of the 10 and 5 to feature notable women who were suffragists, civil rights leaders, and political figures.
Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will not say if he endorses these plans (namely placing Harriet Tubman on the 20), saying that “we’ve got a lot more important issues to focus on.” More important than gender and racial representation and equality?
We’ve laid out the facts so you can be the judge:
Who should be on the 20: Harriet Tubman or Andrew Jackson?
Fact #1:
Andrew Jackson owned hundreds of slaves who were the source of his wealth, and he did not free them in his will.
Harriet Tubman was a slave who escaped slavery and then returned to the South nearly a dozen times to free over one hundred other slaves.
Fact #2:
Andrew Jackson was a military hero whose accomplishments (like the Battle of New Orleans and the First Seminole War) won him enough public favor to be elected president.
Harriet Tubman was also a military hero, but despite her spy work and pivotal role in the Combahee River Raid (which freed 750 enslaved people), she wasn’t paid her military pension by the US government until 2003.
Fact #3:
Andrew Jackson expanded voting rights for the (white male) middle class by loosening property ownership regulations.
Harriet Tubman advocated for (white and black) women to be granted the right to vote, but she died 7 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified.
Fact #4:
Andrew Jackson pursued his Indian Removal Act (aka the Trail of Tears) that forcibly removed 45,000 Native Americans from their land, decimating tribes and killing thousands.
Harriet Tubman did not do that.
So…what do you think?
This December, we will be releasing our newest book, Harriet Tubman For Beginners by Annette Alston and illustrated by Lynsey Hutchinson. Follow this blog to learn more about Harriet’s life and legacy as we lead up to the release.
Have you heard about the battle over the $20 bill? When a grassroots organization called Women on 20s started a movement to replace Andrew Jackson with a historically significant woman on the 20 by 2020, the popular vote went to Harriet Tubman. Obama’s Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was all for it, vowing to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the 20 (but keep Jackson on the back) and even laying out plans to redesign the backs of the 10 and 5 to feature notable women who were suffragists, civil rights leaders, and political figures.
Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will not say if he endorses these plans (namely placing Harriet Tubman on the 20), saying that “we’ve got a lot more important issues to focus on.” More important than gender and racial representation and equality?
We’ve laid out the facts so you can be the judge:
Who should be on the 20: Harriet Tubman or Andrew Jackson?
Fact #1:
Andrew Jackson owned hundreds of slaves who were the source of his wealth, and he did not free them in his will.
Harriet Tubman was a slave who escaped slavery and then returned to the South nearly a dozen times to free over one hundred other slaves.
Fact #2:
Andrew Jackson was a military hero whose accomplishments (like the Battle of New Orleans and the First Seminole War) won him enough public favor to be elected president.
Harriet Tubman was also a military hero, but despite her spy work and pivotal role in the Combahee River Raid (which freed 750 enslaved people), she wasn’t paid her military pension by the US government until 2003.
Fact #3:
Andrew Jackson expanded voting rights for the (white male) middle class by loosening property ownership regulations.
Harriet Tubman advocated for (white and black) women to be granted the right to vote, but she died 7 years before the 19th Amendment was ratified.
Fact #4:
Andrew Jackson pursued his Indian Removal Act (aka the Trail of Tears) that forcibly removed 45,000 Native Americans from their land, decimating tribes and killing thousands.
Harriet Tubman did not do that.
So…what do you think?
This December, we will be releasing our newest book, Harriet Tubman For Beginners by Annette Alston and illustrated by Lynsey Hutchinson. Follow this blog to learn more about Harriet’s life and legacy as we lead up to the release.
