Harriet Tubman Will Replace Andrew Jackson on New $20 Bill
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is expected to announce Wednesday that abolitionist Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on a new $20 bill, The New York Times reports. First treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton will remain on the $10 note, with images of other women set to appear on the back of the bill.
The addition of Tubman to the $20 note deviates from Lew’s original plan to replace Hamilton with a woman on the $10 bill. The massive popularity of Broadway’s hip-hop musical Hamilton led to prominent rallying – most notably from the Broadway hit’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda – to keep Hamilton on the note.
Tubman replacing Jackson, a slaveholder, has already earned a positive response from some politicians. On Wednesday, New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen tweeted, “If this is true, great news! Tubman on $20 is the right call. The redesign needs to happen as soon as possible. Women have waited long enough.”
Lew will announce a rollout of revisions that also involves adding women’s suffrage leaders to the back of the $10 bill. Other prominent women in politics and civil rights will be featured on additional currency designs including a new $5 note.
The redesigns from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will be ready by 2020 to mark the centennial of woman’s suffrage and the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, Politico reports.