While the new design of the bills won’t be revealed until 2020, Politico reported that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced “that for the first time in more than a century, the front of our currency will feature the portrait of a woman, Harriet Tubman, on the $20 note.” Later, in an open letter, Lew wrote, “The reverse of the new $20 will continue to feature the White House as well as an image of President Andrew Jackson”
Let us consider the fact that while slave-owning imperialist Andrew Jackson’s face will no longer be on the front of the $20 bill, his face is going to still be on the currency as Tubman. Tubman was born to enslaved parents and was an incredible civil rights activist and abolitionist, leading hundred of enslaved people to freedom by way of the Underground Railroad. A woman is not only taking the place of a man, but a slave-owning white man will continue to lurk in the shadows of the powerful work Tubman did that inspired her recognition. Does that not get under your skin?
Nonetheless, #Tubman20 is a victory for women, particularly on behalf of activist group Women on 20s, who had be calling for the recognition of women on currency and had sent a petition to Obama. The occasion calls for a celebration of the life and role Tubman played as an abolitionist and activist. Born in the South, she escaped from slavery. She would return many times to rescue people enslaved within the plantation system, guiding them away from the violence of slavery to the North. She continued to remain active after the Fugitive Slave Law was in effect and throughout the Civil War, working as a cook and nurse for the Union Army. She was the first woman to lead an armed expedition, liberating over 700 slaves during the Combahee River Raid. She was strong as hell. May her image and unwavering spirit empower us.
Photo via moisemorancy.tumblr.com
In honor of the #Tubman20, we’ve brought you 20 quotes and images of Harriet Tubman. Enjoy:
“In my dreams and visions, I seemed to see a line, and on the other side of that line were green fields, and lovely flowers, and beautiful white ladies, who stretched out their arms to me over the line, but I couldn’t reach them no-how. I always fell before I got to the line.”
“I grew up like a neglected weed – ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.”
“You’ll be free or die!”
“I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.”
“Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to you and you’ve got to see me through.”
“I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came up like gold through the trees, and I felt like I was in heaven.”
“Most of those coming from the mainland are very destitute, almost naked. I am trying to find places for those able to work, and provide for them as best I can, so as to lighten the burden on the Government as much as possible, while at the same time they learn to respect themselves by earning their own living.”
“I think there’s many a slaveholder’ll get to Heaven. They don’t know better. They acts up to the light they have.”
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