As part of a campaign put in effect by a non-profit organization called Women on 20s, Harriet Tubman recently won an online poll asking voters which woman they would like to see replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.
As we all know, Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave and abolitionist who spent the rest of her life conducting the Underground Railroad to help free other slaves and get them to safety. She then went on to become a Union Spy during the Civil War.
The campaign has been gathering steam for the past few months now with hundreds of thousands of followers including Ellen Degeneres, Susan Sarandon, U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios, and Chelsea Clinton. Over 600,000 people voted in the online poll and, by the second round, the pool had been narrowed down to four finalists: Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Wilma Mankiller, all extraordinary women throughout history. In the end, Harriet Tubman won with 118,328 votes; Eleanor Roosevelt came in second with 111,227. The petition was then submitted to President Obama through the White House Office of Women and Girls.
Those involved in the Women on 20s campaign chose the $20 bill in hopes that the bill will exist by the year 2020, the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. Executive Director Susan Ades Stone is encouraging people to tweet their support of the campaign along with the hashtag, #DearMrPresident.
“Our paper bills are like pocket monuments to great figures in our history,” Stone said in a statement. “Our work won’t be done until we’re holding a Harriet $20 bill in our hands in time for the centennial of women’s suffrage in 2020.”
They also take issue with Andrew Jackson being pictured on currency in the first place. Jackson is a controversial figure because of his passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and his role in the Trail of Tears, which killed thousands of Native Americans.
“I think this genuinely has a great chance of happening,” Stone told BuzzFeed News. “If we get enough public push it’ll happen, and hopefully soon.”