Biden administration expedites efforts in putting Harriet Tubman in $20 Bill [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• President Joe Biden’s administration is speeding up its Treasury processes to officially make 19th-century abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman the face of the $20 bill.
• The move originated from former President Barack Obama’s tenure, which was eventually delayed when former President Donald Trump came into office.
• The selection of former President Andrew Jackson as the current face of the $20 bill remains a mystery for historians given his pro-slavery policies.

President Joe Biden’s administration is expediting efforts in a bid to formally put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill in replacement to Andrew Jackson — White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing on Monday.

“The Treasury Department is taking steps to resume efforts to put Harriet Tubman on the front of the new $20 notes,” Psaki said. 

“It’s important that our notes, our money, reflect the history and diversity of our country, and Harriet Tubman’s image gracing the new $20 note would certainly reflect that.”

Psaki added that they were “exploring ways to speed up that effort, but any specifics would, of course, come from the Department of Treasury.”

Biden picked Janet Yellen to be his treasury secretary. Yellen would be the first woman to lead the US Treasury. Her confirmation is set on Monday at the Senate.

Discussions about Tubman’s replacement of Jackson have floated since former President Barack Obama’s time. Back then, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew pushed for the 19th century abolitionist leader to be at the front of the $20 bill.

The Washington Post reported then that Lew described Tubman’s life as “the essential story of American democracy.”

Born as a slave, Tubman escaped and eventually helped others be freed on the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, Tubman served as a Union Army spy and was also an activist leader, fighting for women’s suffrage.

When former President Donald Trump succeeded in office, though, the process got delayed. According to the Associated Press, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the bill’s redesign would be parked to prioritize the redesigning of the $10 and $50 bills for security reasons.

The plan would have been delayed until 2028 had Trump won his second term.

For historians, the choosing of Jackson for the $20 bill as a replacement for Grover Cleveland back then remains a controversy. Jackson, who served as the US 7th President, implemented the Indian Removal Act where Native American tribes were forced to relocate and hand in their lands to white Southerners. He also enslaved over 100 people, which he exploited to gain his wealth. 

Per the Treasury Department, those faces on American currency “are of deceased persons whose places in history the American people know well.” 

All present designs were selected in 1928, and per the Treasury’s website, “records do not suggest why certain presidents and statesmen were chosen for specific denominations.”

Psaki, who also served during Obama’s administration, said that she was there when the Tubman announcement came. “It hasn’t moved forward yet, which we would’ve been surprised to learn at the time,” she said.

Source: PEOPLE