As the title says, today is a great day for Women, African Americans and American currency. Earlier today, Jacob J. Lew of the US Treasury Department announced that Andrew Jackson--the 20th President of the United States, will be replaced as the face of the American $20 bill by Harriet Tubman.
Tubman, a former slave and forever abolitionist, created the Underground Railroad, helping other Black slaves escape racial confinement during the Confederacy era and run to freedom in the North.
I don't have to tell you, but the Treasury's decision is a great one on so many levels, and a great idea for Tubman to be the face of any bill, let alone the $20 bill. She fought hard for the rights and freedom of African Americans during the Confederation era and had the intelligence, wisdom and strength to do so. She was-and still is-an icon not only for African American history, but also for women's history. She truly is a woman to look up to, whether you're black, a woman, both or neither.
That's more than I can say for previous face Andrew Jackson, who up until this point in my life was just a President whose name I knew--and shared. But as I knew about from an article on my Facebook feed a while ago, I learned more about him than I bargained for. He was a slave-owner and infamously killed Native American upon his belief of the common man. But as of now, I believe he's a common thief and murderer who believed in a horrible twisted logic that would've ruined the American spirit that would've made this country the wonderful (if not questionable) melting pot country that it has been for the past couple centuries.
As for the news that Alexander Hamilton will stay on the $10 bill, I can only wonder why.
But no, seriously, I'm happy we have Hamilton: The Musical, not only in our lives (please check out the cast recording sometime soon; it's brilliant), but also to thank of sparring the Founding Father on the $10 bill. He was a true American man--he co-created the Constitution; founded the American financial system; was the Father of the Coast Guard; founded a party that believed in financial growth, a strong sturdy government and a friendly relationship with Great Britain; established a bank; and founded the New York Post. A badass if we've ever seen one until the very end.
Had he been removed, we would've been stuck with an INDIAN GIVER and KILLER on our legal tender alongside Harriet Tubman and Abraham Lincoln.
Another great thing about this new change in American currency is that images of women in history will also be featured on currency. Lew also announced last year that he wants to change (and revolutionize) American bills by printing historical images of women making change on the backs of other American bills like the 10 and 5 bills, including a depiction of a 1913 march in support of women’s right to vote that ended at the Treasury building, along with the images of Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony (which you may remember as the woman who appeared on the $1 coin until printing ceased).
I stand with Mr. Lew's decision to put women on American currency. Women have shaped the history and revolution of this country as much as men have and have fought long and hard to be treated as equal as men (some of them have even been killed in their efforts), and I believe that putting them on money is only a step toward a country of true equality of gender.
There is still more to go. Women deserve to be paid as much as men, deserve job as high and mighty as men and should not be categorized for unflattering things like sex, children and laziness. And many other things that cruelly and unfairly separate women from men. And if there are people who cannot get behind that, then you're not a true American and your shitty sexist backwards thinking can be kept quiet or can go somewhere else.
Bravo, Mr. Lew.
Bravo to you for continuing and succeeding in your fight to change American currency for pioneering women to be recognized as much as pioneering men. This is a great decision on so many levels and I cannot be any more proud to stand with it.
I cannot wait for the day the new $20 bills to be printed, minted and released, not only to say I have one, but to also be proud of our country making more steps to become more of the melting pot country we said we were.
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