On April 20th, US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced the most historically symbolic makeover of American currency in a century, proposing to replace the slaveholding Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman, a former slave and abolitionist.
Araminta “Harriet” Ross Tubman was an African American fugitive slave, who escaped from her master in 1849. After 27 years of brutality and physical violence, she ran away from Maryland, where she was born, after the death of her master. Tubman made use of the network known as the Underground Railroad, an impromptu system of aiding runaway slaves to travel nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia. She crossed into the free state of Pennsylvania with a feeling of relief and awe, and recalled later: “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.” (Historical Society)
Tubman could have remained in relative safety, protected by abolitionists in Philadelphia. Instead, she chose to return frequently to Maryland to act as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Many escaped slaves fled to the North and sometimes onto Canada via this escape route. The railroad consisted of a series of safe houses, transport facilities and guides to help over 3,000 slaves escape. Among these, it is estimated that 300 slaves were led to freedom through Tubman’s efforts. Tubman was also active in the American Civil War and the Absolutist Movement. Her achievements and contribution to the emancipation of African Americans earned her the title of “Moses of Her people”.
In her later years, Tubman took up the cause of female suffrage, speaking at conferences, advocating the rights of women of all colors to vote. Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia in 1913.
According to Treasure Secretary Lew, “The decision to put Harriet Tubman on the new $20 bill was driven by thousands of responses we received from Americans young and old.” (NYpost). Tubman will then become the first woman to appear on American paper money since Martha Washington, more than 100 years ago.
Such decision generated contradictory reactions. On the one hand, some see this reform as a step forward towards women’s empowerment as well as an acknowledgment of the African American history. Indeed, according to Kari Winter, a professor who studies slavery and dissent at the University at Buffalo: “It is just absolutely beautiful to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman, because where Jackson represented the worst side of American history, Tubman represents the best ideals of American democracy. She really represents the highest ideals of community, working for the common good, thinking about others beside yourself, risking everything for justice.” (NYtimes).
On the other hand, many see this change as an insult to Tubman’s convictions and her legacy. Writer Feminista Jones argues that there is no place for women, especially women of color on American money. She states that “Harriet Tubman did not fight for capitalism, free trade, or competitive markets. She repeatedly put herself in the line of fire to free people who were treated as currency themselves. She risked her life to ensure that enslaved black people would know they were worth more than the blood money that exchanged hands to buy and sell them. I do not believe Tubman, who died impoverished in 1913, would accept the ‘honor’ ” (Washington Post). Zoe Samudzi, a feminist writer also sees putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill as ironic, as she was sold as a commodity, which result in ascribing her on the instrument of her oppression.
Despite the heated debate surrounding this decision, the new $20 bills are set to be released by 2020, along with other influential figures of American history incorporated on the $5 bill.
Sources obtained from:
http://nypost.com/2016/04/20/harriet-tubman-will-replace-andrew-jackson-on-the-20-bill/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/us/women-currency-treasury-harriet-tub…
http://www.harriet-tubman.org/moses-underground-railroad/