US Treasury To Feature Harriet Tubman On $20 Bill (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Harriet Tubman will become the first African-American woman to be featured on the face of U.S. paper currency in more than a century. Tubman was born a slave and went on to become an anti-slavery crusader. Ironically, she will be replacing Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the U.S. and a slave owner. According to Wikipedia, "Jackson held as many as 44 [slaves] by 1820, and later held up to 150 slaves, making him among planter elite. Throughout his lifetime Jackson may have owned as many as 300 slaves." The decision to feature a woman on a bill started in part from a young girl's letter to President Obama about the lack of women on U.S. currency. A social media campaign "Women on 20s" then began pushing for a woman to replace Jackson on the currency early last year. Originally, the department announced it would feature a woman on the $10 bill instead of Alexander Hamilton. Now it's being reported Hamilton will stay on the front of the bill with a group of women on the back of it. Civil rights era leaders will reportedly be depicted in the new $5 bill.

Comments

Maybe they'll start teaching her now too

[T.E.D.]

Tubman was born a slave and went on to become an anti-slavery crusader

This is about the most boring summary of her life possible.

Try this:

Short version - She was America's Joan of Arc.

Long version - She was beaten nearly to death as a teenage slave, and heard voices the rest of her life, which she believed to be God. Often did what God (the voice) told her to. Listening to God she

• Escaped slavery (no mean feat for anyone)
• Went back to the south at least 13 times, helping about 80 more escape. She reported avoiding slave catchers multiple times by listening to her voice of God and following his instructions. She was never once captured
• Helped out with the recruiting for John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. It failed miserably, but likely helped bring on the war that destroyed slavery. The Battle Hymn of the Republic was originally an ode to John Brown.
• Conducted multiple "scouting" (spy) missions into Confederate territory during the Civil War
• Led a military assault on several plantations during the war, liberating about 750 slaves (most of the men of which promptly joined the Union army)

Personally, I hope they use her Civil War woodcut portrait, which shows her holding a rifle.