Are you aware of the recent changes the U.S. Treasury has made to the U.S. currency? On Wednesday, April 20, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced the updated series of the $5, $10 and $20 bills. African-Americans receiving recognition, via money, in the United States, would have been unheard of during Harriet Tubman’s time. Sadly, you will not be able to acquire a $20 bill, featuring Tubman, until the year 2020.
Tubman is going to replace Andrew Jackson, on the $20 bill, after Jackson has held the position for the last 88 years. Both are a far cry from one another in multiple ways.
One being that, Jackson and Tubman lived two completely different lifestyles in America. Tubman grew up as a slave, who later escaped to lead hundreds of other slaves to freedom. Whereas, Jackson was a slave-owner himself and is known for causing the genocide of Native Americans with his Indian removal policy.
Today, Tubman being the new face of the $20 bill is a huge accomplishment for many multicultural organizations.
The organization “Women on 20s” is the main reason for Tubman being on the $20 bill. Executive director Susan Ades Stone was interviewed by CNN, on Thursday, April 21, breaking down how Tubman was chosen to represent “Women on 20s.”
“We had 600,000 people who weighed in on an online pool and Harriet Tubman came out on top of 15 candidates that people had to choose from,” Stone explained.
Harriet Tubman received half a million votes in the online poll. Tubman becoming the first African-American on a U.S. bill has become one of the main topics of discussion on social media.
Some celebrities have made use of their social media accounts to speak about the updated series.
The actress starring in the Netflix original series “Orange is the New Black,” Uzo Aduba, tweeted “Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Well done, National Treasury. Well, well done. #tubman20,” shortly after hearing about the news.
On the other hand, not everyone was happy about Jackson being placed on the back of the bill. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has said on air that, “Harriet Tubman is fantastic. I would love to leave Andrew Jackson. See if we come up with another denomination.”
He continued to support his statement by saying, “Maybe we do the $2. Or we do another bill. I don’t like seeing it. I think it is pure political correctness.”
The Tubman bill has many supporters as well as people who oppose. What is your take on the new changes that the U.S. Treasury made on Wednesday? Do you believe it is a good or bad idea?
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