BYU-Hawaii students and staff welcome and embrace the upcoming faces on America’s money. U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced on April 20 that a portrait of Harriet Tubman, an African American former slave and abolitionist, would be replacing President Andrew Jackson’s on the $20 bill. Lew announced there will also be revisions to the $5 and $10 bills, which will feature famous women’s rights leaders and civil rights activists after the year 2020.
Yina Fernandez, a junior from Massachusetts majoring in political science said excitedly, “I think it’s great that they are starting to put people who have made an actual difference on our money.” Fernandez continued by pointing out this change is embracing the path America has taken to become the nation it is today.
“Adding history and not just presidents to our money is a very good thing. It shows legacy and more about who we are,” Fernandez concluded.
James Tueller, a BYUH history professor felt the upcoming revisions are a reflection of a relatively recent shift in what our country holds dear. He said, “The way in which history is taught and the values we emphasize have changed. Andrew Jackson used to be a hero. Now we have decidedly mixed feelings about him.”
Jackie Calmes of the New York Times wrote, “Jackson was a white man known as much for his persecution of Native Americans as for his war heroics and advocacy for the common man.” Calmes said Jackson would be bumped to the back of the bill to either replace or accompany the current image of the White House in Washington D.C.
The $5 and $10 notes are expected to keep the faces of Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton on the front, but will be subject to a redesign on the opposite side. Calmes reported,
“The picture of the Treasury building on the back of the $10 bill would be replaced with a depiction of a 1913 march in support of women’s right to vote that ended at the building, along with portraits of five suffrage leaders, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and Susan B. Anthony.”
Calmes continued, “On the flipside of the $5 bill, the Lincoln Memorial would remain, but as the backdrop for the 1939 performance of the African American singer Marian Anderson after she was barred from singing at the segregated Constitution Hall nearby. Sharing space on the rear would be images of Eleanor Roosevelt, who arranged Anderson’s Lincoln Memorial performance and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
CNN Money announced the U.S. Treasury plans to unveil final designs for the new bills by the year 2020. CNN added the Treasury wants to accelerate the process but, “Extensive anti-counterfeiting measures, especially for the heavily circulated $20 bill, could add years to production.”
During a phone interview with reporters, Jacob Lew said, “Of course more work remains to tell the rich history of our country, but in this decision with our currency, we will now know more of our story and reflect the contributions of women as well as men to our great democracy.”
Andrew Oakley, a freshman from Washington with an undeclared major, said he felt as though the updated currency is a step in the right direction toward embracing the multicultural and multiracial nature of our country. Oakley expressed, “There are still a lot of issues with racism and inequality in America today, and I feel like this is a big step toward fixing it."