On Wednesday April 20, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced Harriet Tubman would replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill, according to the Los Angeles Times. This change makes Tubman the first woman in over a century and the first African American to grace the front of United States currency. Instead of removing Jackson from the bill altogether, the seventh president will be relocated to the back of the bill with an additional image of the White House.
In addition to the $20 bill, new designs for the $10 and $5 bills are set to be unveiled by 2020, according to Lew. The release year marks the hundredth anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.
Reactions to this monumental currency face change have varied in both positive and negative responses from across the nation. SCAD Professor of Historic Preservation, James R. Abraham, said he is pleased with the addition of Tubman to the bill.
“I am a history buff and have long admired Tubman’s early role in the anti-slavery movement,” Abraham said. “She was strong and influential and took great risks in here stands.”
Ray Christie, a historical interpreter at the Coastal Heritage Society, echoes Abraham’s approval of Tubman’s image on the bill.
“I’m both pleased and surprised at the bold decision to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill,” Christie said. “The Treasury Department could have gone with a less controversial choice, but I strongly believe they made the right decision. As far as reaction from guests, many thought the $20 replacement was positive, but were concerned things were being changed ‘just for the sake of change.’”
According to Abraham, since the initial announcement of a face change last year, several names had been proposed from Tubman to contemporary civil rights figure Rosa Parks.
Christie said the change itself did not surprise him as much as who was selected. He hopes Tubman’s appearance on the $20 bill will pave the way for other remarkable Americans to be honored on national currency.
“The Treasury Department has been on a long term plan to honor the centennial of women’s suffrage (2020), so it predates the tragic events in Charleston last year and the subsequent debate,” Christie said. “If nothing else, this change will bring America’s slave history right to the forefront of daily life in a way nothing else has in recent memory. It’s easy to forget that George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Jackson were all slave owners at some point. We just don’t normally discuss that part of their lives, nor is it what we first think about when we see their images on our money.”
Some critics argue that removing President Jackson’s image from the $20 bill is indicative of a trend to remove historical references to slavery and slave owners. Abraham believes the subject of slavery’s history must continue to be presented to each generation.
“From Jackson on back, many of our nation’s leaders owned and worked slaves – all the way back to Washington,” Abraham said. “Of that early group of presidents, only John Adams was not a slaveholder and was a passionate opponent of slavery. Therefore, historically speaking I think it would very wrong to attempt to remove all public references to long passed slave owners and to the terrible wrongs that were committed.”
Rather than alter the course of history, Abraham said the change might force the American people to better understand who this historical figure was and why she is so significant.
“We will have to teach about this outstanding woman in our schools, because once her image is on the bill she will not be ignored,” Abraham said.
Christie also doesn’t see the change having any long term repercussions on American society and he remains positive the new alterations on the $20 bill will give Tubman the overdue recognition she deserves.
“A country’s currency is both a mirror and a billboard,” Christie said. “It’s a reflection of how we see ourselves and how we wish to be seen. Making these changes within reason provides a way to see our country, and the figures we honor, in a new light.”
Written by Emilie Kefalas.
