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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.
I'll never accept one. They are only worth 70% of what a bill with a man on is worth.
Yup, just another absurd move of political correctness. And one that will not be accepted by the public when they see how ugly the money is becoming.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
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
Personally, I hope they use her Civil War woodcut portrait, which shows her holding a rifle.
Well look at the progress. Now, to the elite in this country, we are all niggers.
While Tubman is a good choice (I personally would have preferred Dr. King, but I know they were going for a woman); why wasn't this done via a popular vote?
It wouldn't matter, Tubman has enough super delegates that she was already a lock for the spot.
I consider all people humans. Nothing more, nothing less. If you want to have specific conversations about race, you can provide context, but outside of that everyone should just simply be human. People use these terms as full-on identities, instead of the context sensitive terms they are. We talk way too much about race and not enough about simply being better humans.
Good-bye
Jackson was a decisive and forceful leader. He had lots of good attributes but he was a serious asshole as well. Aside from his position on slavery which was not really an issue at the time there was the way he treated the Native Americans. In particular the horrible way the Cherokee in Georgia were ripped from their land and sent on the Trail of Tears where so many perished. These people were guilty of no violent acts and in fact were in some ways more civilized than their white neighbors. The Cherokee nation had it's own written language and printed newspapers and interacted well with their white neighbors. At least until gold was discovered on their lands. For this and some other actions Jackson is reviled by Native Americans. Every time I drive by the State Capital in Atlanta and see that gold on the dome I feel ashamed.
Setting aside her race and gender, I like this choice for the fact that for once we're acknowledging the importance of someone who wasn't in a leadership position. We have this tendency to celebrate the person in charge and ignore the grunts, especially when it comes to presidents, and I'm glad to see someone else on a bill.
(Yes, Ben Franklin was never technically a president but only because he was too old. He might as well have been one.)
You're going to have to explain why a white european thinks honoring Harriet Tubman is offensive to black Americans...
As for why replace Jackson- there was a push to get a woman on currency, so they'd have to replace somebody. Jackson isn't quite a founding father, and while he's made many great accomplishments for the nation, he comes with a lot baggage from owning slaves, personally killing several people, and arguably engaging in genocide against the native americans.
If you punch me in the face for an hour, should your grandchildren apologize to my grandchildren for you being an idiot?
There is no such hatred. You and others have made it up entirely. It's a US-only phenomenon, part of a delusion that was fostered by conservative US citizens when they realized that they cannot portray their country as the land of the good and free in light of overwhelming evidence to the contrary (Abu Ghraib, Iraq War, kidnapping, drone strikes, torture, etc.). It's a normal defensive reaction to find some cause and enemy in 'the others', no big deal and no need to bother as long as you keep your irrational feelings about 'liberals' halfway in check and remain reasonable.